loveliness.

Category: thoughts

• life update

  Posted at 8:16 am by jasminedesirees, on January 24, 2018

  

  This has been a pretty busy few months, and I finally have some free time now so I thought I would do a post about what’s been going on lately.

  Last month I graduated with my Master’s degree, said goodbye to Arizona, and moved down to Orange County. Before I’d even unpacked, we were off to the Bay Area for Christmas, and then I flew to Mazatlan on Boxing Day to spend time with my family there.

  I got back a few days ago, and am finally all moved in, so I’m officially a resident of California again, but this time the Southern half. D has been here since September, he moved down here for work, so we’ve been living in different states for 4 months (really more like 6 since I was gone so much for News21) so it’s really nice to be back in the same zip code.

  It was actually kind of fun being on my own for a bit, I’ve never lived alone before. I had a cute little studio in Downtown Phoenix for a few months, I could walk and bike everywhere. I only had vegetables in my fridge (I’m vegetarian, he isn’t), we would FaceTime every night and I drove down to SoCal every couple of weeks to visit so it wasn’t terrible. We were both so busy at the time that we would just be doing homework in the same room anyway (he was finishing his Bachelor’s degree as well as starting training for his new job) so we have a long list of fun Southern California things we want to do now that everything is a little calmer and we’re living together again.

  I haven’t put up a post in so long, and I have a bunch of posts from the last 9 months that are basically done but I’ve never shared, so I’ve been thinking over the last few weeks about why that is, and whether or not I even want to continue to post here.

  What I’ve realised is that I initially started this blog (6 years ago!) when we moved to the Bay Area from Hawaii, and I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know anything about where we were, so it was a fun hobby for me, I finally had somewhere to put all the millions of pictures I take, and it gave me a reason to explore places I maybe wouldn’t have otherwise.

  And now that I am back in the same position again, I’m glad I still have this space because I really do enjoy it.

  It’s only when I start thinking about whether or not I should be trying to get more followers (or actually promote my posts anywhere at all) or about the content (Is it interesting? Does it matter if it is since I don’t really care if anyone else sees it? Should it be more journalistic? Should I be writing about more serious issues?) that it isn’t fun and I start to avoid it.

  So I’m just going to try not to overthink it, and just let it be what it is, a fun hobby and a place for me to share whatever and whenever I feel like it.

  Posted in California, life, thoughts, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged blogging, life, moving, southern california, update

• on coming home

  Posted at 9:47 am by jasminedesirees, on December 8, 2014

  We’ve been back from our travels for about 2 weeks, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I haven’t seen my family yet, so I am still waiting ever so patiently (is it Christmas yet?) for that, but other than that we’ve seen a bunch of Derek’s family, and all of our friends in California, and made a road trip up to Oregon to see my best girl for Thanksgiving.

  I’ve drunk my twisted tea, I’ve got my scuffed up leather boots back on (it is probably not normal how much I missed them, I had dreams about them when we were gone), I’m sleeping and waking on a normal schedule again, I’m even back at work, as a temp in the city until we move to Phoenix in January. We’re officially and definitely back to reality.

  I am a little sad to be back, but I was worried that it was going to be more like this, and that I was going to be really depressed not to be traveling constantly, and sleeping in a new place every night. To be honest, I never got tired of that. I know some people would have, but I could live like that forever.

  The thing is, even though we are back to reality, we aren’t yet back to routine. We are basically homeless, we’ll be moving to a brand new city at the end of the month, and the time up until then is filled with friends and family and Christmas-ness. I am starting to look for a job in Phoenix, and I have some big goals for myself for 2015 as well.

  Even though we were gone for six months, now that we are home again, it kind of feels like the whole thing might have been a dream. I just want to hold on to all of the things I learned while we were away, and keep my priorities straight, remembering the things that are important, and the things that aren’t and never will be.

  Our trip was an amazing chapter in our lives (and I still have a ton of posts to share), but it’s not the last chapter. Instead of being sad to be home, I’m really just excited for what is coming up next, including starting to look ahead, and beginning to save for our next big adventure.

  Posted in thoughts, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged friends and family, homecoming, life, priorities, travel, writing

• if money were no object

  Posted at 9:30 am by jasminedesirees, on September 25, 2014

  Love the message behind this. It seems like we’re told from a very young age that we can be anything we want to be, but then as we get older, as we get closer to actually being grown ups and trying to decide what we should be doing with our lives, we seem to be told instead that so many of our aspirations are childish, and that we need to grow up and get a “real job”.

  It’s true that not everyone can be painter, or a writer or spend all their time outside with horses, but certainly some people are able to. And if some people are able to, then if you dedicate yourself to being the best writer, painter or horse whisperer you can be, then who’s to say you can’t  be one of them?

  

  You can find the original cartoon here.

  Posted in favourites, inspiration, life, loveliness, thoughts | 0 Comments | Tagged alan watts, dreams, favourites, jobs, life, money

• martial law

  Posted at 8:35 am by jasminedesirees, on July 3, 2014

  We are having the time of our lives exploring Thailand, and as much as I want to share all of our fun adventures, I also wanted to take a minute to talk about some of the things that are happening politically in the country.

  As most of you probably know, there are some changes happening in Thailand right now. The government has been relieved of some of its duties by the military, and there is a some uncertainty as to what this means for the elected officials, and whether this is truly a coup, which has happened 12 times before in the country’s history.

  This creates some difficulties, since it was a government elected by the people of Thailand, but because a struggling economy and a feeling that the country was not on the right path had led to mass unhappiness and protests, the military stepped in, and declared martial law.

  We were a little nervous about coming here during all of this, the U.S. State department put out a statement dissuading all non-essential travel to Thailand a couple of weeks before we were supposed to leave, but we already had our trip planned, and we knew this was probably our only shot at getting to visit Thailand, at least for a long time, so we decided to come anyway, and hoped for the best.

  To be honest, it hasn’t really affected us, there is a curfew designating that everyone has to be home by midnight every night, it was originally 10 o’clock, but they saw a drop in tourism immediately after the curfew was enabled, and since a lot of the Thai economy is based on tourism, they have to do what they can to keep people coming here, even during this chaotic time.

  We’ve noticed a military presence for sure, especially further north, in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Many of our tuk tuk drivers liked to point out the groups of soldiers stationed along busy intersections, and an increase in check points along main roads.

  From talking to locals, and watching the news here, it seems that the media has been instructed not to speculate on the current political situation and  many of the national Thai broadcasting channels were shut off by the military when they seized power. There are reporters covering these events, but they have to be careful what they write, and must stick to only the bare facts, or they can be accused of inciting riots.

  Also, I heard that some news outlets are being censored via the internet, and a few times when I was trying to read an article, once from the Daily Mail, I was redirected to a rather official looking Thai page, and wasn’t allowed to access it, although I wasn’t able to read what it said.

  From what we’ve seen, reporters are using social media to get the news out, and protestors are also using social media to let people know where to gather. Some Thai locals are in favour of the military intervention, and some are not, it’s a complicated situation.

  We didn’t see any rioting or anything like that in Bangkok, but we met some guys from the UK a few weeks ago that were here when the military first took over, and they had to avoid the palace and all of the major temples in Bangkok because of rioting, and there had been incidents where pipe bombs were used, so they weren’t able to visit many of the landmarks of the city.

  We’ve had such a wonderful time traveling around Thailand, and meeting its people. It’s hard to say what is going to happen with all this, the last time martial law was declared it went on for a year and a half, but I hope it’s resolved in the best interests of the Thai people.

  You can read more about the situation here.

   

   

   

  Posted in life, Thailand, thoughts, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged coup, martial law, military, politics, Thailand, travel

• move on

  Posted at 5:39 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 28, 2014

  For someone who puts so much emphasis on forward motion, I’m really terrible at saying goodbye to the present.

  No matter how many times I tell myself it’s for the best, or at least you had the amount of time with that person that you did, or maybe you won’t see each other all the time but it’s not goodbye forever, it doesn’t seem to help.

  Because the truth is, you do make choices, whether you’d like to admit it or not, and those choices lead you towards new things, but also, away from other things.

  And that’s OK, it’s good even, because the alternative is being so terrified of what you might lose that you forfeit everything you stand to gain and that you stay in the same place forever and are always the one left behind.

  It’s normal to be sad, and to be scared that what’s to come won’t be as good as what came before.

  Just be grateful that you had the chance to experience something that was so hard to say goodbye to. Keep moving forward, because really, what choice do you have?

  Posted in life, thoughts, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged choices, life, moving on, thoughts

• dark side of the lens

  Posted at 10:13 am by jasminedesirees, on February 19, 2014

  A beautifully shot video of the ocean, with a beautiful message. If you love what you do, even if you never get rich and famous, you’ll live a life you will enjoy remembering.

  Posted in life, love, thoughts, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged life, love, mickey smith, ocean, photography, surfing, video

• sonder

  Posted at 9:56 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 4, 2014

  Love this. So true.

  
  Posted in art, life, thoughts, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged art, life, thoughts

• homesick

  Posted at 5:38 pm by jasminedesirees, on August 23, 2013

  I met up with a new group of ladies last night, and we were getting to know each other and talking about where we are from. We started talking about winter and the leaves turning colours and it made me really homesick.

  Then today I saw this:

  “A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan. A Canadian may also be a Cree, Metis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Canadians. A Canadian’s religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none. 

  In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan. The key difference is that in Canada they are free to worship as each of them chooses. Whether they have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

  A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

  A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services and the best minds. But they also welcome the least – the oppressed, the outcast and the rejected.

  These are the people who built Canada. You can try to kill a Canadian if you must as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried but in doing so you could just be killing a relative or a neighbour. This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian.”

  I can’t find the original link where it’s from, but I wanted to re-post it anyway. Obviously this is idealized, Canadians aren’t perfect, but they are pretty great and I’m proud to be one of them.

  Excuse me while I go sob in the corner and hum the national anthem in French. Humming is the same in every language (probably?).
  
  

  Posted in Canada, thoughts | 0 Comments | Tagged Canada, homesick, nationality, pride, thoughts

• at first sight

  Posted at 8:30 pm by jasminedesirees, on August 14, 2013

  I heard from an old friend last night, and it was so nice. It’s easy to get busy with work and other things and not make as much effort to keep in touch, and before you know it, it’s been months or years since you’ve talked.

  There are a lot of friends like that that I’ve made over the years, and then slowly, even though you still care about them and miss them, it gets harder and harder to keep in contact, as you know less and less about each other’s lives and actually getting on the phone and talking only makes that more obvious, and you start to doubt your friendship, and wonder if the other person even cares to hear from you anymore.

  But then there are those people that you just click with, instantly. I don’t believe people only have one soul mate, and I don’t think that if you do have one, it necessarily needs to be romantic. There are just people in life that I have clicked with, sometimes honestly at first sight, and we’ve been friends ever since. And we’ll be friends forever because even if I never spoke to them again in my life, I know we’d still feel exactly the same way about each other.

  Those are the kinds of friends that even if you don’t know the name of their dog, or even their address, you could see them after 10 years of not talking and pick up exactly where you left off, and those are the kinds of friends I am lucky enough to have.

  
  Posted in friends, life, love, thoughts | 0 Comments | Tagged friends, friendship, life, love, thoughts

• i’m a seven.

  Posted at 12:48 am by jasminedesirees, on July 19, 2013

  One of my favourite bloggers, Cara at Maskcara, posted about Enneagram personality tests today, and it was kind of interesting so I decided to take the test too.

  I am a seven (so is she). The characteristics of a seven are:

  The Adventurer (the Seven)

  Adventurers are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

  How to Get Along with Me

  • Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.
  • Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.
  • Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.
  • Don’t try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.
  • Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.
  • Don’t tell me what to do.

  What I Like About Being a Seven

  • being optimistic and not letting life’s troubles get me down
  • being spontaneous and free-spirited
  • being outspoken and outrageous. It’s part of the fun.
  • being generous and trying to make the world a better place
  • having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures
  • having such varied interests and abilities

  What’s Hard About Being a Seven

  • not having enough time to do all the things I want
  • not completing things I start
  • not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career
  • having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies
  • feeling confined when I’m in a one-to-one relationship 

  
  I thought a lot of this stuff was pretty accurate for me especially how to get along with me, and what’s hard about being a seven. I’d like to see what some other people got and compare though. I always wonder about tests like this, or horoscopes, are there really only so many types of people? Does when you are born really have that big of an influence on your personality, and thus, your whole life? 

  I always think there is no way it matters, but then sometimes I read descriptions of characteristics of a Pisces, or a middle child, and it’s so accurate that it’s creepy. Maybe if you put together the results of someone’s Enneagram test, their horoscope sign and their birth order, you’d have everything you’d have everything you’d need to know about someone without even talking to them.

  Posted in thoughts | 0 Comments | Tagged enneagram, personality, test, thoughts

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