My Experience with airBnB

In a recent post I mentioned that when I went to San Diego for my first date in seven years, I decided to book a place to stay through airBnB.

airBnB is a site where you can book a room in someone’s home or apartment while you’re traveling.  What’s great about it is, you can often find a place to stay at a much more affordable price than if you were to stay a hotel.  Especially if you’re looking to stay in nicer areas or cities where rooms are crazy expensive (I’m looking at you, New York).

The caveat, of course, is that you’re staying with a stranger.

…I can hear someone’s mental tires screeching as I type.

I know that it might sound crazy to some people.  But what got me over that hurdle was a couple of things.  1. I know more than one friend personally who has used airBnB or a site like it (like couch surfing) and recommended it and 2. The reviews. Continue reading →

Dealing with a Major Breakup

It’s been just about eight months since I left Los Angeles and moved back in with my parents.  I’ve said it before, but I really never thought I would be back here, ten years after having left.  I felt a lot of things at first- sadness, anger, fear, at times even hopeless.  I’ve come to realize a few things through it all, though, and thought I’d put a list of things I’ve learned together in case anyone here ever finds themselves in a similar situation.  Hopefully it will help.

5 Things To Remember During a Breakup

1. It’s not the end, it just feels like it.  Going through a breakup, especially after a really long relationship, and one where you just stop communicating, feels like the other person has died.  You grieve.  It’s painful.  Some days you don’t even get out of bed.  People keep promising you that things will get better, but you won’t believe them.  So just cry.  Scream into your pillow.  Just know, though, that those people are right, and that you will get through it.

2. Have at least one trusted friend that you can call and confide in day or night.  Someone who you know won’t judge what you say or do.  You will have an off day or ten, and not everyone will understand that.  People who have been there before know how dark and down things can get, and their understanding will mean the world to you.  Just make sure that you let them know how much you appreciate them (because you will be sobbing into the phone like a crazy person).

3. Remember that your relationship ended for a reason.  If not, you’d still be together.  Am I right? Continue reading →

Weekly Roundup

ice cream truck

It’s ice cream truck season!  This truck circles my parents’ house every summer, and the song never seems to change.  I used to love running out and buying a Mississippi mud fudge ice cream sandwich from it as a kid.

long receipt

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at this ridiculously long receipt for my one item!  That’s Tillamook medium white cheddar, for anyone wondering.  I got this at the local supermarket, but Tillamook also has an awesome factory in Oregon where you can take a little tour, sample cheese, and buy their freshly made ice cream (their mudslide is RIDICULOUS… and apparently I really love mud-dy ice cream).

romeo and juliet

I went on a run and ended up at my old junior high– where I hadn’t been in almost 15 years.  I particularly liked that it looks like kids in an English class were required to write out quotes from Romeo & Juliet on the ramp outside of their classroom.  We read it in the 9th grade, too, and I loved it so much that I would sit in my room for hours memorizing passages.

mauna loa kona macadamia

Kona coffee glazed macadamia nuts.  My awesome friend Yumi mailed these to me from her trip to Hawaii (thank you again, Yumi!) and they’re really good.  I lived in Hawaii for a few years when I was younger, and for some reason, these and Dole pineapple soft serve always stick out in my mind from that time.

dock shadow

Strolled around the dock one afternoon.  That’s me attempting to wave (which you can barely see to the left of my head) in the middle.

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This week has been a big exercise in patience for me.  Sometimes there are things that you just want to happen already, but need to trust that things will work out in due time.  In the meantime, I’ve continued working on my secret project, which I know I haven’t mentioned in a while, but am still plugging away at.

It’s still hard for me to believe how much has changed since I moved back in with my parents last year.  In so many ways I feel like a completely different person.  Still, I can feel that more change is coming, and I can feel myself paddling more with the current than against it now.

I hope you have a great weekend, with lots of sunshine.  I’ll see you here next week!

Thursday Thought: Chris Hadfield is a Badass

I’ve been posting notable quotes on Thursdays lately, but today I’m going to just quote myself and say that Chris Hadfield is a badass.

Do you know about Astronaut Chris Hadfield?  He was living and working up on a space station up with his crew for five months.  He just came back down to Earth on Monday, but if you haven’t seen his awesome space videos, you need to right now.  In fact, explore his and the Canadian Space Agency’s channels, you won’t be disappointed.

This is one of my favorites, Tears in Space (Don’t Fall):

His Space Oddity music video is super cool, the first music video made in space, and it’s hard to believe that it’s real:

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Too cool, right?  It reminds me of when I was in the Young Astronauts club and going to space camp as a kid.  We had space ice cream and launched eggs off of a giant platform, and we had to make little protective capsules for them.  I remember getting a sweet t-shirt and a real astronaut signed my neon yellow hat.

It’s so cool that kids especially now get to experience space in such an interactive way.

Simple Meals: Taco Seasoning

It’s kind of funny to say, but Okinawa, the island that my family is from, has a dish called Taco Rice that it’s known for.  It’s basically seasoned taco meat on top of rice and served with a little cheese melted on the rice, lettuce, tomato, and some salsa (or just hot sauce– my fave is Trader Joe’s’ Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce).

Taco rice is delicious, you can find it everywhere in Okinawa (the addition of the rice is basically what makes it Okinawan), and my mom actually even serves it at her restaurant here in the U.S.  Some people definitely get confused by the Latin influence, but once they’ve had it they’re hooked.

So anyway, I love taco meat, but I’m not a fan of packet taco seasoning because there is so much salt/sodium in them (not to mention other funky things).  I was hanging out with my friend and Mexican food connoisseur Nancy, and she was making her own.  So of course, I snatched that recipe right up.

taco seasoning

My spice mixture

Here’s what you need to know:

- Chili powder

- Smoked paprika

- Garlic powder

- Onion powder

- Chili flakes

- Salt

- Pepper

The quantity depends on how much you like the flavor of each spice and how many pounds of meat you have.  So start with a tablespoon of chili powder and start adding the other spices by the teaspoon-full in a bowl.  Then you can add however much you need from that to your ground beef.  Remember, there are no wrong moves in cooking!  Just experiment and adjust to your tastes.

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Have you ever had taco rice?  Do you make your own taco seasoning?

Trover: Finding Hidden Local Gems

Have you heard of an app called Trover?  It’s relatively new to me, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.

In a nutshell, Trover helps you find hidden gems close to where you are.

It’s sort of like Instagram if Instagram strapped on a backpack and went out looking for adventure.

So how does it work?

You upload photos of the places that you go, and then you add a description of why that place is worth visiting.  Then, people who are nearby can scroll through the photos on their phone by location (and miles away) to see where the interesting places around them are.

Trover

A screenshot from my iPhone– what you can find 11.0 miles from me!

It’s especially great if you’re visiting or are in a new area, because you won’t have to resort to whatever is familiar (ie chain restaurants or typical tourist spots), and instead find something unique to where you are.

Some fun touches:

- In the upper right hand corner, the app will display if it’s walking, biking, or a car ride away.

- You can “thank” someone for a photo instead of “liking” it.

- You can follow people just as you would on Instagram or Twitter.

- You can login using your Facebook or Twitter account so you don’t have to go through the process of creating a whole new log-in (I always find that time consuming on some apps and will just ditch them because… I am lazy).

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Awesome, right?  The app is free, and definitely worth downloading.  Let me know if you do, and you can find me under the username monamiblog.  Can’t wait to see your hidden gems!  Er, finds.  …you know what I mean!

Facing Fear Through Participation

If you know me well, you’d probably say I’m an extrovert.  You really can’t get me to lower my volume or just shut up in general.  I’m passionate and crazy and love to talk about anything and everything.

On the other hand, if we’ve just met, you might confuse me for a mute because I really won’t say that much.  I sit back and watch and listen and try to gauge everything around me.

The introversion is what I battle with.  Because while some of that makes sense from a survival standpoint, there’s a huge part of me that just feels like it’s so boring.

It’s like hanging out on the edge of the pool.  Just watching, waiting.  Dipping a toe or two in a little, but afraid to make a splash.

Yet if I leave the pool without having gotten in, I lament myself for feeling invisible.

So why not just jump in?

Fear.  Of course.

Fear of judgement, fear of failure.

But seriously, guys, that’s no fun.  They say at the end of your life, you don’t regret what you did, you regret what you didn’t do, right?

So I wanted to talk about something that I’ve been working on that’s helped me immensely.

That one thing is one word: Participate.

Lately, when I feel like I have an opportunity to do something or talk to someone, but feel afraid, I just say that little word to myself.  For whatever reason, when I do, it makes me feel like I’m suddenly a part of something as opposed to facing something alone.  Jumping in the pool is no longer about making a splash and everyone turning around and staring.  It’s about jumping in so I can swim with everyone else, to enjoy what they’re enjoying too.

It makes fear more manageable, and in some ways, it even makes it more fun.  To me, that’s what I ultimately live for anyway.  To have new experiences, to have fun, and to be a part of those new things with others.

So that’s what I’ve been practicing, everywhere I go.  From wishing the cashier at Starbucks a Happy Birthday (the tiara gave it away) to yelling across the street at a girl that I like her outfit (she had a huge bow on her head that was super cute) to even just hanging out with my brother and making s’mores and talking about life.

I’m choosing to participate.

And you’d be surprised at how nice most people are.  Not everyone always is, of course, but that’s okay.  It’s nothing to take personally.  Not everyone will want to participate, and not everyone will like you either.  That’s cool, too.  The point is, it’s like an experiment.  You’re just making an observation, and interested in the result.  That way, no matter what happens, it’s a win.

It’s hard to explain, but participating makes me feel so free.  It takes the pressure and seriousness out of everything, and helps you just be and not worry so much about what other people think.  It’s not something that I’m 100% natural at, and I definitely have to work at it every day.  But I figure the more you do something, the more it naturally becomes a part of who you are.

And personally?  That’s definitely more of the type of person that I want to be.

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Have you participated lately?  Any experience in particular that left you smiling?