She stared at us from inside her presumably heated car as we walked by in rain gear and a rain cover over the baby's stroller. Saying it was pouring rain would have been an understatement. It was dumping buckets sideways. We had just parked in the lot for the Heceta Lighthouse in Florence, Oregon. It… Continue reading Torrential rain won’t stop us
"How was Osaka?" "It was good. Well, I prefer Tokyo though," I replied. My mom's reaction to my response was a burst of laughter. She then followed with: I'm not surprised. Because we are Tokyo people. This conversation occurred more than two years ago. Bryce and I had just returned to my grandma's house in… Continue reading Osaka v. Tokyo
Every New Year's Day, my mom would make osechi ryori, traditional Japanese New Year foods. Actually, I need to correct myself. She'd be cooking all day and night before New Year's Day. If we weren't home in Seattle, then we'd have an even more elaborate osechi in Japan with my baa-ba (grandma). In recent years… Continue reading Flower carrots, sleep deprivation and memories
Sometimes I see the notifications comes into my email that I gained a new blog follower. "Oh, that's nice," I think to myself. Nice that someone out there is interested to subscribe to a blog that has been dormant for 12 months. How did this even happen? There are a few factors. The first half… Continue reading The last 12 months
The one thing that is not lost this summer is hiking. Living in Seattle, there are so many (relatively) nearby mountains and forests to explore. But, hiking has always been a popular outdoor activity among Seattleites (and all the transplants). Now with the pandemic, if you want to avoid other hikers, you either have to… Continue reading Getting away from people
As my friend and I chatted, we kept referencing how this wasn't the summer anyone had planned for. She had planned to spend the entire month of August back here in Seattle. (She currently lives in Spain). Now she doesn't even know when her next trip back to visit her parents and friends will be.… Continue reading Not the summer we planned for
When we pulled up to the trail head, there were only two other cars. Not bad. We purposely took a day off mid-week in an attempt to avoid crowds on our hike. We also didn't pick a super popular hike to begin with. As we were getting situated and out of the car, another car… Continue reading Fresh air, sun, mountains — and masks
I had to go into the office to pick up my work badge the other day. It was my first time back in four months. It was weird because as much as I enjoy working from home (no commute, not having to wear real pants ...) I had a tinge of sadness as I walked… Continue reading An office stuck in time
Remember this post? I don't know what happened because June flew by and I only wrote two blog posts the entire month. (At the beginning of Covid, I was churning out at least one post per week). What happened? I'm not sure. I felt like I didn't have anything (important) to say. I've gotten to… Continue reading Here, still.
Today is the first of May. I have no idea how May has already snuck up on us. Time seems to go by both quickly and slowly during quarantine. I know that the days go by, yet a part of me still feels like it should still be February. I went on a run yesterday… Continue reading Welcome to May — but also losing track of time
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