Semi-Scuba Diving Adventure

My parents came up to visit a few weekends ago and the main reason for it was to dive at Point Reyes, Carmel. Upon entry at the Point Reyes Park, they advised us that the visibility was only 3 feet with a high swell. We were determined to go scuba diving since my parents (mainly dad but mom joined as company) drove up from L.A. for diving. We decided that we should check other portions of the Monterey Peninsula so the next stop was Lover's Point, Carmel.

We were the only scuba divers in the area (including the parking lot/beach area which is uncommom) but figured that maybe we should give it a try.

• hi •

• time to swim out •

• dad doing a final check to make sure all is OK •

So we swam a few hundred yards to see if the conditions would get better. My dad decided to first go under to check visibility to only come up after thirty seconds to declare that there was no visibility even at twenty feet down. With that realization, we both concluded that it was not worth attempting to make the dive so we swam back to shore.

And herein lays why I don't like beach diving. As we got closer to the shore, I crawled on all fours to slowly move out of the water but took out the regulator, placed my mask on top of my head and breathed in huge gasps of air. For about those three seconds, it was the calmest moment that I could ask for... until the set of waves decided to come behind me and wipe me off all fours and I had to struggle with all the gear, trying to get the regulator back in and not lose my mask.

Valuable lesson learned! Do not take off the regulator and mask until I am fully out of the water. I have never been pounded so much before by the waves. It took about an additional ten minutes for me to grab my mask, regulator and get out of the water because every time I was able to gain some sense of balance, came another wave. Don't think that I'll be doing another beach dive anytime soon, it's just not fun with the waves!

I am itching to go diving so I will be heading down to L.A. at the end of July to dive Catalina Island. I am really looking forward to that! In the meantime, here is a picture of my mom doing what she does while waiting for us to get out of the water.... making warm Ramen for us! YAY!

Love Grows...

Surfing through some green friendly wedding prep website, I found an invite company that specializes in eco-friendly wedding invitations that was DIY (which was important since we did Dutch and English versions). Almost all of their invitations are tree free, 100% post consumer recycled papers and we fell in love with the Seedling invite which is plantable paper with embedded Cosmo seeds. Since we have a lot of the paper left over from our wedding, we thought that we should plant our paper and see what happens. We planted them throughout our backyard but due to the valley's heat, nothing seems to have sprouted (as of yet). However, we did plant some in a planter where it gets a lot of shade and to our merry surprise, they started growing! We can't believe that the invites are growing and can't wait to see what flowers grow! :)

• exterior •

• interior •

• quote from "The Alchemist," one of my favorite books •

• growing •

• our planter with part of the invite sticking out •

• Remember that wherever your heart is,
there you will find your treasure.
You've got to find your treasure
so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense •

Fifth of July

It's been a very long time since I've stayed at home to celebrate the Fourth of July. Usually, I aim to travel someplace far away to celebrate all the while trying to sneak in a firework show. I've enjoyed this awesome holiday from Boston, New York City, Prescott, Las Vegas and even Vietnam. So finding myself not making plans for this year was a little odd but I'm glad that I did. We kept it mellow by having a BBQ, playing games of Scrabble with our friends and we ended it with a bike ride to Santa Clara's Central Library for their fireworks show. There are not a lot of places in the Santa Clara/South Bay area to view fireworks and this was a spectacular show. It was free with lots of places to lay out, have a few drinks and wait for the unobstructive show to start. Of course, the Fifth of July has been a holiday to recoop from the wicked hangover (getting older definitely does make the hangovers last much longer) but it has been such a great weekend of relaxing and enjoying ourselves without the stress of traveling. I might get the hang of this!

• waiting for the show to start while moon gazing •

• relaxing •

• boom •

• bang •

• kabloowee•

• some of my favorite fireworks photos that i took.
wish that there were more fireworks shows
so i can keep working on taking firework pictures,
it's a toughie •

Things to do on a holiday weekend?

It's a three day holiday weekend and for once, we're actually staying in town and it's quite bizarre (although, in reality, I don't work on Fridays so I always have a three day weekend but for Marijn to be home is the bizarre part). So what does one do when they are staying local to try and avoid the crowds?

• laundry? eh, not out of clean underwear so that can wait

• clean the house? it's always neat, just needs to be cleaned but that's just too much effort

• do yard work? it's supposed to be a hot weekend so no thanks

• finish thank you cards? we're in the home stretch, just need to sit down and do it but since mail isn't being picked up this weekend, that can wait

• watch fireworks? drunkenly walk to central park in santa clara and watch them will be a must. or climb onto our roof and watch them from there (although drunkenly getting on top of a roof doesn't sound safe :)

• watch the hangover? have yet to see it so after a few margaritas, might be fun?

• drink beer? mmmmkay, no arm twisting on that

• catch up on my reading? that is a needed

Whatever we do decide to do on this long weekend, we'll be sure to celebrate this holiday with food, beer and fireworks - all the essential ingredients for a holiday!

Muddy Buddy Racing

I am a very uncompetitive person so going out of my way to wake up really early on a Sunday morning to run/bike in a 10K race is highly uncommon but I found a race that is totally worth it!

Mai drove up from L.A. to be my "Muddy Buddy" partner in a 10K race up in the San Jose mountains and what a great weekend! Because of the early start time on Sunday, we figured it was best to camp out at the site which is up in the San Jose mountains. We did find it odd to camp with seven friends and to keep the beer drinking to a minimal since camping and beer just go hand in hand!

• looking down into san jose, ca•

• sunset while camping - team ebbets field •

If this race ever comes into your city, I highly suggest doing it! There are five legs to the race and you alternate with your buddy between running or racing. In between each leg, there is an obstacle that you need to complete before starting on the next leg (either biking or running). In order to cross the finish line, you need to meet (or wait for) your partner, run over to the mud pit and army crawl through the giant mud pit. As soon as you're done, there are cold Red Hook beers waiting for you! It was fantastic, tiring and dirty but so worth it! Next time, I think that Mai and I will go in costume! :)

• going down the inflatable slide •

• concentration needed to balance on the beam •

• leaving the mud pit •

• we survived •

• in need of a shower •

• my poor shoes after the race •