• Scheduled get togethers by watching Korean Drama kept us sane on weekends and even weekdays. So far, we've watched 3, but I only kept myself dedicated watching to 1 (Itaewon Class). I'm bad at keeping myself interested in hour-long series that I randomly ask on highlights. But nonetheless, it kept us together. A bit of time spent more after watching these series with Kwentuhans. Currently exploring reality TV shows. 
• Reading books were one of my key accomplishments vs. last year. I finished 5 already, and the best one was "Off the Map" by Alanis Bonnet.
• Watercolor paintings have been my weekend hobby and I try to have my hands on a pencil or paintbrushes to work off the rust.
• Getting busy in the kitchen were my favorite parts of the day. Part of my weight loss ambition is to come clean with meals. I'm not going to crash myself into massive diets, just trying to keep a pace on clean eating. I've grown to love being in the fresh section at my grocery visits lately plus some weekend preps like pickling tomatoes and dicing fruits for freezing.
• Another special milestone is graduating a 2-week weight loss exercise program. I followed a program by Chloe Ting and her videos were the right one for my pace. I was kind of impressed of my daily accomplishments despite the fact that I still work after the workout.  

 Destinations like these make me miss home and its proximity to a lot of points of interest. Of how spending a quick afternoon at the beach, or horseback rides up in a cold mountain that's just an hour away. The city life is as interesting as the "provincial life", but maybe at this point maybe i need more of the latter for now.

I've always wanted to experience Autumn, so Korea was our pick for this year's international trip. My Mom always wanted to travel through booked tours, which was quite more practical since we were to busy to make travel plans. I've told countless friends that South Korea was not my choice of destination with the perceived pre-requisite of appreciating K-dramas and their music.




So we were with a bunch of people all the time, doing a hop-on hop off on certain destinations. What was cool was that we were able to make friends with a couple named Ysa and Gino, who were our constant table buddies every restaurant we're in. We went to the usual places to go: Nami Island, Little Paris and Everland. I was more excited when we're in Meyongdong where I found grilled Lobster Mozzarella and Kimbap while strolling in the busy streets full of cosmetic shops and fashion botiques.

I'd really love to go back there minus the planned tour, yearning to experience the hassle of looking for directions, asking locals to translate their language and etc. I wish we has more time exploring Seoul on our own, but time and schedules were so limited that we have to be stuck in certain places. I think there's a lot more to see in this country, and I'd be glad to come back to give it another try. Spontaneous planning was something I was so familiar of since, and I realized this instant that all of the fuss of traveling makes up the entire experience. The destination is what we're keeping our eye on, but the journey towards it, not most of us realize, makes the storytelling a lot better.

Only less than a day was granted for us to go around San Fransisco. Living in Sacramento, time was of the essence as we drove around the steep streets and colorful houses. Aside from the Golden Gate as the main sight of the day, we discovered seals being their lazy selves on the Pier. It was a dream come true to have a close sight with those creatures since my last one in Hong Kong.



I guess taking a sidetrip to Napa Valley was the best idea we've had all day. From the car window were stretches of vineyards nestled on the wave-looking mountains. Wanting to be all fancy all of a sudden from wine tasting was turned into a disappointment of closed keg houses. My fantasies of fancy wine tasting became a Heidi wandering on the windmill field.

It was all jaw-dropping with the almost life-sized rocket ships, vintage planes hanging around the ceiling, space wall art, miniature imitation models of space and moon rocks. M O O N R O C K S. I was wondering the whole time what actually happens when moon rocks are exposed in oxygen.













I got myself a NASA patch and a Sky Map for my bedroom because 0Nly hIpStErS LiKe MoOn StUfF. And who says things like these are for hipsters only?