Showing posts with label Happiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Happiness. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

River Deep, Mountain High

Being back in LA, didn't mean vacation was over! We still had more time to do stuff!

Calvin took me to this coffee place in San Gabriel where they have exotic coffees. I am not a coffee person, so I had this (durian) Indonesian fruit shake. I had never heard of the fruit, so of course, I had to have that! Why waste time on something you know when you have an opportunity to try something new? The owner of the place know Calvin and knows that his adventurous nature. The owner thought that Calvin was making me order the durian shake. I was like, no! No! No, Sir! I want to try this! He told me that if I didn't like it, I couldn't return it. I told him that I didn't think I could either! While discussing this issue, I noticed that there was something boiling on the other side of the counter. It looked like eggs boiling in mud. I asked what that was all about. He told me he was boiling eggs in tea. It's a Taiwanese thing. I was like, mhhh, can I try one? Calvin got us those as well. 
Durian Shake

The eggs were great, nicely spiced, but everyone wanted to see the expression on my face after I sipped on the durian shake. I took a sip and loved it! It tasted different but not bad. I enjoyed it, actually! It smells pungent but tastes ok. I had that on our way to the mountains. Calvin took us to Mt Wilson. It's one of if not the tallest mountain in the San Gabriel Valley. The idea was to watch the sun set from up there but we were a tad late for that. the sun set on our way there, which we still enjoyed, nonetheless. I drove, the drive up the mountain was absolutely insane! It was getting dark, the roads are narrow. We were driving up the mountain, literally, so that was another factor but I enjoyed it. How often do you get to drive in a scary road like that? 

Calvin was nervous for me, I could tell he wasn't breathing right. I was like, boo, don't worry, calm down! Enjoy the ride! There were rest stops along the way and spots that looked like bus stops where you pull over if someone driving faster came along. 

When we got to the top, we got off and enjoyed the view.

View of LA from Mt Wilson

It was all so surreal! We may have posed for a couple of pictures...
Mt Wilson

It was cold up there! I tell ya, I was under-dressed. Luckily, I still had my vacation suitcase in the car with me. I put on a sweat suit (track suit), and continued to stand there and chat with my boo in the still of the night. It was cold and dark and quite. It was a hell of an experience!

We later went for a walk on the mountain. It was scary, Calvin kept telling me that he thought he heard something. I'd be like, what could it be? 'A Mountain Lion!' I tell ya, I didn't even know what exactly that was then but I was kinda shaken. I didn't think it smart to be in the middle of nowhere, barehanded where there were things called mountain lions. Calvin told me to pick up a few rocks, he would clap his hands every now and again. Apparently, that would scare them away or something. Being on top of the mountain like that, I couldn't resist yelling to the top of my voice. Just for the echo fun of it. 
Tip of another mountain on my right

By the way, on our way back to the car, I urgently needed to pee. What? Are you kidding me? Great, the Pumas are going to get me! I also didn't want Calvin standing there watching me pee. Not cute! I survived!

That's how dark it was up the mountain!

On our way back home, we stopped by a mall and had Japanese for dinner. OMG, so good! I had a seafood soup with all kinds of seafood in it! It was so good. I am not a soup person but I love all the seafood soups I have had so far.
Japanese Seafood Soup

From the ocean to the Mountain, the best that Southern California has to offer! 



La Jolla

I had decided to have my phone off during our vacation. Like most people nowadays; I am on my phone A LOT! Especially social Media and chatting with family on Whatsapp.

After a nice rest in our tent, we got up, hunted around for showers. The showers were on the other side of the camping grounds. They used quarters for warm water.
Just after the shower! Nice and clean!

Our nice neighbor had told us that so we went prepared with some quarters. We took showers and headed back to the site for breakfast. Cal and his new friend talked about the previous night. Cal offered the guy breakfast, he was making Spam. The guy didn't want to impose but Cal coerced him into having some. He succumbed and liked the Jalapeno flavored spam. Turned out, he had never had that kind before.

Spam for breakfast
I enjoyed breakfast. I always enjoy Calvin's cooking! We tidied up our site and headed out. Calvin suggested we go to La Jolla, San Diego. I've lived in San Diego but had never been to LA Jolla; which is one of the most expensive neighborhoods if not the most expensive, in San Diego. I was looking forward to checking it out. This was going to be my first time back in San Diego since I left. I was looking forward to making some nice memories as those from the time I lived there were kinda meh.

My car and our lovely neighbor's tent.

I drove. It was a little more than an hour's drive. The weather was nice. We got lucky and found parking by the beach. Calvin went Skimboarding. I took the most amazing video of him skimboarding ever! I am so proud of how it came out. Even he was impressed seeing it! He looks like such a pro! I walked along the beach and in the water, just to feel it on my skin. It was cold and windy over there! 
La Jolla Beach, San Diego

How Blue is that water? Amazing! They had these cave like situations in the rocks along the beach front, we went in there and goofed around. It was a nice time! 

After our fun in the water, we had worked up an appetite, we went for lunch. Calvin told me that there's a Nepalese restaurant that he had eaten in before that he wanted to take me to. I was down. 

That's me in Calvin's fedora

We found the Indian/Nepal restaurant, well, not really but another one that served the same stuff as the one Calvin wanted to take me to. Service was crap, the servers looked like we were bothering them. The food was ok, some items were to die for but most were meh! The Mango Lassi was absolutely divine! Plus, it was my first time. I love mangoes! Calvin has a Filipino Mango tree, did I tell you?

After lunch, we went for a walk down the block just browsing. I didn't find anything I wanted. I'm also not the kind of person that needs to shop. If I find something I have been looking for, sure, other than that, vacation or not, I'm ok going back home with nothing but great memories. We came across this ice cream spot that apparently has the best ice cream. I ordered the smallest cup and just sampled because I was so full. Cal had the rest.

Back to the car, back to LA! 
I loved how we drove all the way to San Diego for lunch. 

There was a bit of traffic on our way back. Thank goodness for Carpool lane! I am usually alone in the car, so I never get to use it, so when I have someone in the car, I am the first one on the carpool lane. Let's go! 

We made it back to LA, showered, maybe watched a movie, maybe passed out while watching, who knows?

By the way, for those of you who may not know, La Jolla is pronounced La Hoya.

Did I tell you that because my Air BnB guest had kinda stopped paying for his stay, I locked hiss ass out on my way to vacation? He couldn't get hold of me because my phone was off. Sorry, vacation time! Oops! You should've paid your rent! 




Thursday, March 10, 2016

Happy Camper

Calvin had a week off work where he decided to take me on vacation. It was going to be our first trip together. I was so excited! I loved the direction our relationship was going. Wouldn't you?

I packed a carry on luggage full of stuff  for the week and a small overnight back. I washed my car and headed on out to my Calvin's. I was so excited, I always have been whenever I was going to meet him; which had been every weekend since we met for the first time. Nice record. I have dated people in the past who were never available on weekends.

Brian, my airbnb guest was still staying at my house but was becoming more of a nuisance. The vacation couldn't have come at a better time, quite honestly. Not that there's ever poor timing for  vacation. I didn't tell Brian I was going out of town. It was none of his business. Also, you never know what people might get up to, knowing you were going to be away for a week.

Calvin planned that we would go camping by the beach on San Clemente. I had never been there before and hadn't camped in forever! Being n arborist, he had a bunch of wood from the trees he had been trimming, we took that with us, he also has very warm and thick sleeping bags and a tent. He is pretty outdoorsy, so it's only second nature that he would have that kind of stuff handy. I took my sleeping bag along as well. You can never be too prepared, right?

I arrived with my silver spinner suitcase, Calvin had his silver suitcase packed. I was surprised at how we both had similar suitcase. Poor coincidence!

We loaded my SUV, I posed for a few selfies and hit the road, Jack!
Notice our silver suitcases in the bottom
We both loaded the truck together, I pride myself in being good at packing. Having moved as many times as I have, it comes with the territory. Calvin thought of everything. He put water in the cooler for us and of course brought his skimboard. We were going to the beach after all. There it is in green below.
Let's go! 
We started at the gas station by Calvin's house. He bought a few snacks. We did have lunch before we headed out. He prepared something for both of us. I ate as soon as I got there, within an hour, we were on our way. Right on schedule! We were both psyched!

It was a nice two or so hour drive to San Clemente, Orange County. We drove to the campground, booked a spot, the one we wanted was already taken or something, so the lady was nice enough to move us to one with an awesome view of the ocean. Man! So cool!

View of the ocean from campground
I was jumping up and down for joy with how everything was falling into place. As soon as our camping spot was booked, we set up our tent, which was much simpler than I thought it would be.

Cute tent for two
After setting up the tent, we went out for pizza down the street at a pizza joint where they also brew their own beer.

Ready for pizza!

The pizza was really good. I asked for one with as much meat variety as possible while Calvin was ordering exotic beer.

Deliciousness!

We also had chicken wings with our pizza. So good!

It wasn't a lot of food but I was full. Probably, mainly from excitement! Calvin bought himself a Pizza Port beer mug. From Pizzaring, we headed out to the beach. We did so much that day, I can't believe we only had 24 hours! Calvin skimboarded. I took pictures and videos, you know the drill, haha. Soon, I will know how to do all these things and be cool too, you wait! I stepped into the water, because you have to! I love water, I just can't swim. I had shorts and flip flops on, so I was ready to go.
View from the parking lot

After all that, we went to the supermarket to get ourselves a few necessities; ice, juice, stuff to eat while staying there, red velvet cake for moi, etc ;)
Because I had to

San Clemente beach behind me

When we got home, we walked around the are to see what else was going on. There were a lot of campers,. I must say! Families, some people had two trucks, bikes, bicycles, it seemed like they lived there.

We went in the tent and chilled there for a second, when someone close by started playing nice music. This is not Beverly Hills, you can't be mad that someone's music is loud. We're on vacation, we're open minded. We had our own speaker, I had the iPod, but we turned ours on and enjoyed the neighbors music. He had a caravan/Trailer right next to us. Calvin went out for some reason and ended up talking to our neighbor. The neighbor asked if his music is too loud, we told him we love it. 

Around sunset, Cal called me to watch the sunset. 
So amazingly beautiful!
We stood outside our tench and took it all in. It was a moment, for sure! Neighbor invited us over to watch the sunset from his 'yard'.
Beautiful San Clemente Sunset
Neighbor had a lot of interesting things over there. He had a wooden statue from Indonesia, he refers to it as his wife. That was on the table and a lot of interesting things from his travels all over the world. He's a very nice guy, we were lucky to be posted next door to him.
The neighbor's wife!

Calvin made dinner, he had brought ground beef/minced meat from home, he made burgers out of that for all of us, including the neighbor.
Burgers for dinner
We had brought a camping type stove but the neighbor offered his, so Calvin used that instead.



Dinner time!

The burgers were delicious, we all loved them. Calvin is such a gem, I'd be lost without him. He comes in handy in all kinds of environments.

Neighbor offered some stuff from his own kitchen, pickles, etc to go with out burgers.
You know, the messier food looks, the better it tastes!

After dinner, they drank some exotic drinks. We all sat and chatted the night away. It was a really good day and night.

I got tired and went to bed, Calvin made fire for us to keep us warm through the night. 
I may have got up to quickly enjoy the fire 
As you can see, a great time was head by all!

Eventually, I went to sleep. Calvin sat outside by the fire and enjoyed the still of the night. Eventually, he woke me up. There was a skunk by our trash, he didn't want me to miss out. What? I've never seen a skunk in person. If I did, I must have been very young in the farm.

The skunk going through our trash
The thing didn't care how much noise we made or anything, it was focusing on what it was doing; licking those avocado peels. Calvin threw rocks near it to scare it away, hoping it wouldn't spray him with its smelliness. Did it move an inch? Nope! Only when it was done, did it walk away! Bye Felicia!


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Fall Festival

My AirBnB Guest, Brian was getting comfortable, he was getting comfortable. This could be a good and a bad thing. I want all my guests to feel at home. I also want to feel at home in my own home. If their feeling home is going to infringe on my peace of mind, we have a bit of a problem! Brian never cooked so he never used the kitchen. He only used the living room, where he slept and the bathroom. He had long-ish hair that was falling off. I love his undercut hairstyle, it looked good on him. I just didn't like how the hair was clogging the bath tub and I didn't enjoy sweeping it off the bathroom floor. He took good care of himself. He shopped on Rodeo Drive and wore nothing by designer clothing and a bunch of Jordans. Good for him! Remember I mentioned that Brian used to book for a day, two, even three at a time? That story is here. He still did that, but his credit card was getting rejected after I accepted the booking. What would happen was that he would make a reservation, I would accept, he would pay, AirBnB would confirm payment, 24 hours later, Brian's card would be rejected. What on earth? I would take a screenshot of the notification about the rejected card and send it to Brian. He would then follow up on it 'with his dad'. That became a trend. I wasn't into that trend though, go get viral over there! I'm busy!

Brian was still buying new designer clothes, he would always show me his new Louis Vuitton Murses (man's purse) and all kinds of new stuff he was buying. But you owe me rent money, boo? He told me that his dad was in the hospital. I empathised with him but that story wasn't going to cut it when it was time for me to pay rent with the apartment management, was it? I still needed money in my bank account. Plus, you have a job, can you pay me with the money in your account and then have your dad reimburse you? Like why should this solution come from me? You're the one with a problem? You're the one shopping 24/7. What I liked about Brian was that he never brought guests over to my place. He would tell me that he will never tell women where he lives, 'you know how you guys are!' he would say. I'm like, listen, don't compare me to your women, I am in a league of my own. For example, between you and I now, I wouldn't date a guy who is sleeping on someone's floor. Especially a guy who can afford designer wear but doesn't prioritise his sht. Heck Nah!

Calvin is a churchgoing person. He is one of those guys! I haven't been to church since Vegas. I go sporadically. Well, I went sporadically when I did. I hadn't been for months. When you're in Vegas and find out there's a church right on the strip, not a wedding chapel but a full on church, you go! You check it out. Calvin had asked me to go to church with him. Not in an annoying, 'I would like to invite me to my church' type of way. I was honored he wanted to go to church with me, so of course, I went! Just an hour in and you're done! My kinda church! No offense to anyone who spends all day at church, I've done that too in Salt Lake. I told you all about it here. Day before church, Calvin and I were out and about. He had a few clients he needed to touch base with. I tagged along. We used his amazing 1965 truck. How could I say no? We ended up going to shop for a dress for me. Calvin paid for it. Yay me!

I wore my new dress and Calvin coincidentally wore a green shirt and black pants. We became that couple at church that day. You can spot a bit of that green and black dress in this post. After church, Calv bought us snacks at church. They sell goodies to raise funds which I think is a brilliant idea.

We have been to church a number of times together, we went to two different ones in Calvin's neighborhood and we went to the Cathedral downtown. That one is gorgeous. Whenever I am at church, it takes me back to boarding school where we went to church 7 days a week. I was there for 5 years. My uncle, may his beautiful soul rest in peace was a Bishop, so we grew up in church. I always think about him when I go to church. I literally have the service done by him in my head.

One weekend, there was a festival at the church, the entire weekend! I remember thinking to myself, it would be nice to go for a walk around the block with Calvin one of these days. Be it his block or mine, it doesn't matter! I arrived in the evening at Cal's, he suggested we walk to the festival. I couldn't believe it. We had been driving wherever we went. We had driven to that church on numerous occasions, all of a sudden, he wanted us to walk. Be careful what you wish for!

It was a nice walk. We walked around the church yard, it was packed! I didn't see that coming! I hadn't foreseen it being that big a carnival. There were rides and all kinds of things. We went on a ride, a very interesting ride. You stand against the wall, they turn it on, it speeds around and around, somehow it pushes people off the floor, so you end up in the sky, but against the wall. I tell ya, it's a trip! There is no gravity! You can stretch your arm out, it won't fall. Until the ride is over. I really enjoyed it.

Food Stalls at church
We had Vietnamese for dinner from the Festival, I tell you it was elaborate. They had different cuisines!

Vietnamese dinner

I couldn't tell you how long we were there for. We had such a nice time! On our way out, Calvin bought a painting of The Last Supper. I haggled the seller and won. It wasn't a real painting, the blown picture type. Calvin felt bad because it's church people. I was like, come on! This is what you do with street vendors, you negotiate! Plus, we saw one for the price I had asked for, that's where it all started for me. I just didn't want to pay more than I should. By I, I mean Calvin, cos I wasn't paying for sht.

We walked back to the house. It was already late.

The following day, we went to the Festival again. This time, Cal's friend had dropped by, we took him along. I drove. I had wedges on, so I took them off to drive. We struggled to find parking because everyone was at the festival. Finally, we found a spot where someone had just left. Cal was so sweet, he got out of the car to help me parallel park. After that, I got out of the car, as I was trying to buckle my sandals, Calvin went down on his knees just like on our first date and was like, I got it, babe! Ugh, how can you not melt?

Filipino food at the Carnival 
I wanted something different, as I always do, for day two, so I had Filipino food. Looks similar to the Vietnamese dish, doesn't it?
Halo-Halo... Filipino desert
Enjoying Halo-Halo
Calvin invited his friends over to his house, while at the Carnival, he bought some food for everyone.
$80 worth of assorted meats
The picture doesn't do the meat justice. That's a heck of a lot of meat. If it's $80 at a church event, you know it costs even more in real life. It was so good too! While waiting for our meat, we had some more dessert. Well, Calvin and his friend, I was too full.

Funnel Cake
I did taste the cake though. I had never seen or heard of it before. It tastes good. If like me, you have never heard of it, that is not ketchup/tomato sauce on top, it's strawberry topping. 
at the festival

While eating funnel cake, waiting for our large meat order, we were approached by Bingo people. They offered us free Bingo tickets. We went into the hall and payed Bingo. It was the first time for all of us. None of us won anything but we enjoyed it.

Bingo!


After Bingo, we picked up our meet and sides. The owners of the stall were so chuffed, they asked to pose with us for their websites. We obliged, Calvin's friend was like, I'll pass. 

Back home, we headed! 


Friday, February 19, 2016

Dancing Queen

I exhaled and said shoop! when I finished fixing up my condo back in South Africa. By the way, I can't wait until I have a house here in The US, so I can be those people. You know, the ones who have properties all over the place? It will happen! I'll tell you all about it when it does!

I still do my vision board, gratitude journal stuff. I have no intentions to stop. Applying the Law of attraction into my life has done wonders for me and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to change their lives remarkably. I still have a big smile when I look at the material things I have manifested into my life. It's the greatest feeling in the world, knowing that everything you have ever wanted and have ever dreamt of is within rich, you just have to believe and be happy. When you're happy you attract more things into your life that make you happy. More happiness, and vice versa. There's happy and there's Law of Attraction happy, when you're REALLY H A P P Y ! When you're so happy, you could scream? When you're so happy , you can feel it in your muscles. I usually feel it in my arms. That's the kind of happy you want to be. Not just contentedness, but excitement! You know when you wake up with that feeling, you jump out of bed and you're like, 'I'm ready for the day!  I'm ready to conquer the world!'? That's how you want to feel all the time. We've all felt that feeling. When you feel down, like nothing is worth it, like, what's the point blah blah blah; write down a list of the most amazing things that have ever happened to you, or just think of them, try to shift your energy from that dingy, dark place, to happy place! Take a deep breath and look around and say thank you out loud, heck, say it three times! Be grateful you're still alive, even though, you really wish you weren't because as long as we're still here, the possibilities are endless. And that's a gift! You don't want to be that ungrateful person, nobody likes that guy. Call a friend, your mom or whoever that person is that makes you feel so great every time you talk to them. Text someone, go on social media, search a hashtag/pound (#) something that makes you smile, it could be videos of laughing babies on YouTube or cute videos of cats, or something, there's always something out there that can make us smile if and when we find it hard to dig deep within for it. Be persistent, you can even time yourself. Overtime, you will notice that it will take less and less time or effort for you to come up with something that's gonna change your mood. The goal is to be able to switch from bad to great in no time flat. But just knowing and believing that you have the capability to do that within your heart, is a step in the right direction in and of itself. It's better than being around people you don't even like or who don't like you just because you want a sense of belonging. When you know that you have all that you need within yourself, it's an amazing feeling. It makes you look at life differently. But in a good, good way! 

I love taking things off my vision board because I have achieved them. 

After Calvin asked me to be his girlfriend, and of course I said yes. I felt like we were headed towards a great direction together. The day of the shoot in Calabasas. While working as a hawker/street vendor, selling fruit and vege, I kept my cellphone in the drawer of the stall, pictured in the blog, click on shoot, if you would like to read about that. Calvin and I were texting back and forth, he was also at work. He sent me a text, "babe! I'm falling! I'm falling for you!" It was the highlight of my day! Being someone's girlfriend is one thing but having them fall for you is something else. I will take the latter any day of the week.That and the fact that my sister Pumla was in the country were the best parts of my day. I was falling for him too but I wasn't going to make it easy for him. I wanted him to savor the moment when I told him I did too, so I didn't tell him that that day. I did read that text over and over again though. 

My sister was having a great time in New York, she was doing things she hadn't done before, I was excited for her. 

I was doing what I can to pay bills. I was going to TV show tapings. I got to go to CNN building for the first time. It was a big deal for me, I had always seen it and even walked past it. I remember once a few years ago, I bumped into a bunch of South African girls vacationing in Hollywood, they needed directions, I used the CNN building as a landmark in the directions I gave them. In that moment, I thought to myself, wow! I really am here! Not only am I in The United States, I'm in Hollywood, I am giving South Africans directions in Hollywood, I know this place so well. It was a moment for me! I was going to see the Dr Drew Show. It's a live show, one of the producers produces the Jerry Springer show, go figure! Cool guy! The producer, Dr Drew too.

I had always been a fan of Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew, so to get to see him a person was a big deal for me. Sadly, he no longer does the rehab show. They asked if anyone wanted to dance, he didn't offer anything, so I thought, meh. Lo and behold, the dude came and found me all the way in the back of the audience and told me I look like I can dance. You know me, I never say no, I was like sure, let's go. He was like, 'really?' Yup! Let's!

Omarosa from The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice had just walked into set. I was excited to see her too, as a big fan of Celebrity Show, I have seen every single episode. On my way down, I passed Omarosa who was sitting on the front row of audience, she was a guest of the show. I didn't know that then, I didn't know if she was a regular or not, I had never seen the show on TV. 'Hi, Omarosa, you look great!' I said, on my way to the stage. She said hi back. #Moment! I got on the Dr Drew stage and went crazy with my goofy ass dances. The guy, audience warm up guy, decided to dance with me. It was fun. Omarosa filmed it. I am not sure what she did with it, I'm sure if I searched for it online, I'll find it because I found a selfie she took that day.

Omarosa in front with a giant smile at D Drew, CNN
I could tell you I'm all the way in the back, you can spot my right arm and my short blonde afro right behind the blond girl in the back, but I don't wanna be that girl! ;)
The Fleet at CNN, all black everything!