Summer!!!

I'm feeling the full blown effect of summer now with this week's heat wave! But why does it feel like summer is already over?!!

All the plane travel in March-June has worn me out and I'm exhausted. I think it is a good exhaustion, but nevertheless, I'm not feeling the uplift of summer just yet. But I think these activities will do the trick:

Summer goals
1) Annual summer Hollywood bowl concert, this year with fireworks!
2) A big beach bonfire
3) Thursday Santa Monica beach concert
4) Channel Islands
5) Catalina Islands (this is the year for islands)
6) As many surf sessions as humanly possible
7) Swimming laps at the pool
8) Maybe another national park...Zion? Yosemite?
9) A lazy day at LACMA
10) Hike Mt. Baldy, inspired by this story
11 and 12) I cautiously add a couple more that seem like a long shot but possible....camping!! and learning to sail.

Basically can I do anything and everything involving water and the beach this summer? :)

Looking back at my summer list last year, not too much has changed with the addition of more outdoor activities. I must have liked what I did last year and I'm excited to make some of these summer LA traditions.

Niagra Falls

We spent a day at Niagra Falls before heading to Sacket's Harbor last week.  I had never been and I really wasn't sure what to expect, but I wasn't disappointed.

Nature is so amazing and the strength of water is unbelievable. Of course, I forgot our passports while we were rushing out the door, so we didn't cross over to the Canadian side, but we still got a good look at a lot of the falls. I had so much fun watching people get drenched by the waterfalls and I was shocked at how brave the first travelers were initiate the process of making the park what it is today -- a place that everyone can enjoy.  On the other hand, I also was thinking about the Native Americans who probably inhabited this area and what their history is around these falls given the name,  Niagra, which is a derivative word from the Iroquoian language, and seems most people agree it means "the Strait".

Just some thoughts as I witnessed the majesty of these water falls.

Susie got married!

Susie got married!!!  Chris' family and I headed to Sacket's Harbor, NY for a beautiful backyard wedding. Look at this view of Lake Ontario! 

Both families came together to pull this wedding off and it was intimate and lovely.  She's lucky to have this view of the lake and to be sharing it with her husband Damien. They seemed very happy with their dogs and home renovation projects, and we were happy to meet his kind and warm family. 

Here we are in the midst of the wedding enjoying the views and snapping photos! 

And sparkling night lights to finish off the night.  I was so impressed with Susie and Damien --- she made her own cupcakes with intricate frosting and they really made the space welcoming and comfortable for everyone in the days leading up to the event.  Chris' parents and Damien's parents are also troopers! 

And here we are --- one week away from our own anniversary of our wedding last year :) 

A couple of final observations...

- Sacket's Harbor is real rural, I mean REALLY rural. There were 4-5 houses on this country road and nothing else.  A nice reprieve from the bustle of city living, but I don't think it is for me. I'm surprised to know someone who lives in such a rural town! 

- I forgot how hot and muggy the East coast is and I don't miss that...but I do miss all that greenery

Gratitude

Everyday we have so much to be grateful for, but these days especially, I feel that Chris and I are especially lucky.  For that, I am feeling a deep sense of gratitude!

We've had a few awesome developments in work and in our house hunting process the past few weeks. We've been so busy with the day to day and the events of the last weekend (Susie got married!) that we haven't had a chance to sit down, take it all in, and celebrate!

So I want to dedicate this post to being thankful for everything that has come our way, good and bad, but especially the good the past few weeks.  Thank you universe!

Until we meet again - ABQ, NM

With the training winding down, I tried to squeeze some sightseeing on the last two days in ABQ.

I met some friends at the training who were nice enough to take me along their trip to Sandia Peak--one of the number one tourist sites at Albuquerque. Sandia means watermelon in Spanish and the peaks turn a beautiful watermelon color at sunset.  We rode a 15 minute tram up the mountain and were greeted by beautiful skies and mountain peaks. 

My last day, I visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.  I was really moved by the poems displayed throughout the museum, the love and respect for nature, and the resilience of these people who have really endured an unjust history by the Spaniards, Mexicans, and worst of all the Americans. And the injustice continues. 

A couple of my favorite poems: 

Child of beauty

  Are you ready?

Return my healed heart to earth

Bring with you seeds

  Of a new generation

Begin

Only when it is safe

And plant wisely

I will guard these seeds 

  with my life 

--Veronica Riley, Laguna Pueblo

"Grandfather said, 

'At school things are different. There the white man teaches you his way.

He wraps his feelings up in words and puts them with marks on paper for you to see. 

Here we keep our feelings in our hearts. To know them you must live them.'"

-Sun Journey, Zuni Pueblo 

Also, I learned that in Pueblo culture, people don't say good bye, they always say "Until we meet again". I thought that was really beautiful. 

Some images from the museum: 

These patterns are drawn by those yucca leaves that they used as paint brushes! 

A week in Albuquerque, NM

Hello! I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico this week attending Stat Camp! Stat Camp is an intense, INTENSE, one week 9am-5pm training on different statistical models and methods. I'm taking the structural equation modeling class, and boy, is it a lot of information at once.  Usually at the end of the day, my brain is fried. 

But! I'm really enjoying my time in the evenings visiting Albuquerque and learning about the city through my many Uber drivers and my AirBnb host.  

1) Albuquerque is beautiful - so much history, few high rise buildings, quiet, and beautiful skies. 

2) Look at all these murals!! I walked around the area of U of NM and snapped these pictures. 

3) The food here is delicious - I'm eating green chilies with everything and also ...wow, sopapilla is such an awesome dessert. 

4) People are so kind here- a restaurant owner gave me a free sopapilla because I had said I never tried one before.  I didn't know people still did nice things like that and I was so heartened by it and grateful. 

5) Old Town, Albuquerque is a preserved area of the city that capture ABQ from its past. It is beautiful, yet somewhat saddening at the same time, as I'm seeing lots of Native American gift stores that looked a little run down or I suppose it felt like hyper capitalization of the culture. 

Some pictures from the first few days, two more days to go and I'm very excited for what I have planned for the rest of the week. 

What happened this May

As you may notice, I'm playing some major catch up in the blog realm.

Instead of my usual, things I can't let go of for the month, I'm doing a month of May activities! 

Some of my May highlights include: 

1) Weekend in Chicago and South Bend Indiana! 

Chris and I spent a weekend in Chicago and South Bend, IN at the beginning of May for Zach's wedding.  (Yes, I went to ND twice in one month - re: my reunion first weekend in June). 

In Chicago, we met with Sun Joo, visited a museum at U of Chicago, went up the Willis Tower (I'm terrified of heights), had dinner at the Publican (delicious) with my cousin Grace and her husband Jason, and had deep dish pizza.  Did you know that if you walk around Chicago---you will smell a scent of dark chocolate?  Chris kept saying it was sewage, but it smelled like dark chocolate cookies to me... haha, and guess what! It was dark chocolate coming from a chocolate factory downtown. 

We then drove to South Bend for a beautiful wedding at the Basilica and a fun, intimate reception in South Dining Hall.  Zach and Crystal are such thoughtful friends, of course, all of the people we met at the wedding were just as thoughtful, kind and devoting their lives to doing good work.  It was also Chris' first time at ND, so that was fun seeing his reactions to my four years living on campus and just how random ND customs seem to an outsider! 

2) Cinespia with Juan and Christian 

We saw North by Northwest, a Hitchcock classic and apparently the beginning of all mystery movies! I love Cinespia and after last year's fun summer movie experience, we made it a point to go again this year.  It was basically Juan's last full weekend in LA before he moves to Washington, DC so I'm glad we got to do something iconic LA together.  Chris and I made kimbap and salad, and brought all sorts of foods to picnic with.  OF course, I forgot blankets in the car so I froze a bit. 

3) We bought a sous vide! 

Is this something all married couples do?  It seems that way....well we took the plunge using a gift card someone gave us and got a sous vide! Here we come, world of sous vides, hahaha

4) Meditation

I've started a class via UCLA called MindFit. It's meditation class twice a week. So far, so good. I find myself joyful during and after meditation and so incredibly restful. It really is a tool that requires practice and a lot of discipline, but the reward seems worth it. 

5) May Gray

It's cloudy and cold here this month, but it hasn't stopped us from visiting the outdoors!  Here we are at Leo Cabrillo hike and Paradise Cove in Malibu with Chloe and Chris.  The day lightened up by the time we got to Paradise Cove as you can see here! 

Do you remember that commercial with the dad from Modern Family throwing fresh smelling laundry into the ocean? It's a laundry detergent commercial...it is filmed here! Do you recognize that beach? 

6) And finally...SOONIE!! the Morning Glory character notebook.

My sunbae unni, Sue, found an old notebook as she was helping a family friend clean out their home, of the Morning Glory character Soonie!  This character's lifeline was about 1 year when I was in middle school in Korea. I bought up all the notebooks, erasers, pencils with her character on them...cause how could I not! She wasn't popular enough though and she was quickly discontinued. Anyway...here it is!  It's cut off a bit in this picture, but Soonie's byline is that she  is generous and loves to take care of animals, hahaha! 

My parents turn 70!

My parents turn 70 this year (Korean age, of course). I can't believe that so much time has passed and that they are already 70 years old. It is hard to grasp what that means! 

My sibling and I hosted a party in Seoul at a hip cafe called Maria Jung's Garden located right outside of Seoul Land to celebrate their birthday this April (this post is delayed).  Maria Jung is a quick 10 minute drive from our home and they had a great 7-course meal (so delicious), decorations, and desserts.  

My parents invited roughly 60 of their closest friends and family, and my dad of course found Pop-Opera singers to come sing at the event for 1 hour. Initially, I thought this was a little bit insane, but in the end, of course my dad won out- and it was a great idea.  Instead of people sitting around having to socialize with others they didn't know very well (not all their friends are friends from the same life period), they got to listen to pop-opera singers sing old Korean and opera songs and dance.  It was a great event and I'm really glad that my dad had the foresight amidst our initial complaints to set it up!  

I had fun and my parents had fun! Lots of funny moments in which my sister, brother, and I were supposed to know or do certain things that are traditional Korean customs and we were completely lost and confused. We kept telling the MC that we wanted the "American way" but he had a really hard time accepting that.  All in all, I think everyone had a lot of fun, they enjoyed the food, and it was a unique experience --with lunch and a private show. 

I set up a website, made a photo slide to show during the event, and also had some of my parents close friends living abroad/and family friends from Utah! film videos to send happy birthday messages.  I was impressed with the technology:

I used 

- wix.com for the website

- animoto for the photo slide show 

-  tribute.co for easy collection of video messages

A few words about my parents, even though a few words can't capture how much I love and adore them: 

** My dad is such an amazing person-- as an adult, I can understand and appreciate how unique he is in his ability to think big picture and really say to the world---I'm doing this my way (we had one of the opera singers, sing My Way by Frank Sinatra). 

** My mom is the backbone of our family unit, we love and adore her so much and all she has done caring for us and basically giving up her career in piano and ceramics to take care of our family. 

** My parents are the best parents I could've ever asked for or even hoped for and everyday, even more so now, I am grateful to have been born their daughter.  I only hope that one day I can be just as wise, kind, fun, funny, honest, and generous as they are. 

** They have taught me so many life lessons, and they continue to do so even from afar. 

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was running around or saying hello to relatives. 

Here are a few pictures that I have from the day: