Wednesday, September 9, 2015

August 2015

I turned 24 this month, and Ira turned 1! As much as I love summer, it's almost nice that it's over because being back to school means I don't have to anticipate going back to school and it not being summer any more. I'm a glass-half-full kind of person like that.

I've always thought of myself as a "summer baby", but my birthday is usually the first day of school for people, and I think this is the first year that I realized that my birthday is basically the very beginning of fall and there's nothing left to look forward to. UGH. Oh well. I'm already gearing up for my infamous yearly "fall-hating" post, it's gonna be a good one this year!

Speaking of school, Jonas is in his final (?) semester at Hancock, so it will be interesting to see where we go from here. We are actually looking into becoming "urban missionaries" (of all things!), which is exciting and kind of strange for me, but I'll definitely talk more about that later as it unfolds. Suffice to say that it seems to be a piece of the bridge we're trying to build to get us from where we are now to wherever we end up. {image}

Early in the month, I took what turned out to be a mini-vacay to LA with my brothers to hang out with Annelise and Andrew for a weekend. It was tons of fun. We went thrift shopping, street art browsing, ate tons of good, cheap, food, and went to 626 Night Market, which was kind of insane, but made me happy because it felt like a very "us" thing to do with my siblings. Mid-month, Jonathan went back to San Diego for school, which was sad for me. I really enjoyed hanging out with him when he was home this summer. Distance seems to have strengthened my relationships with my siblings, and I really treasure the time we get to spend together now. I also went to visit my friend Genna in Thousand Oaks and we hit up the Oaks Mall where we had many mini adventures, and she graciously let me drag her around while my two offspring hung from her neck.

For my birthday, my parents made Persian food and bought me some sheets I'd had my eye on. Jonas took me on a date where we watched otters in Moro Bay, hit a few thrift shops, and hat dinner at one of our favorite places (which turned out to be pretty disappointing compared to our first visit, so sad!). There were other little treats sprinkled here and there over a week or two, which is such a nice way to experience a birthday.

We pretty much just stuck a candle in a smoothie (Ira's favorite) for Ira's birthday because we will be doing a small party for him AND Ishmael in September. Ishmael LOVES birthdays and candles, so it's always my favorite to watch him be excited about other people's birthdays. Ira didn't really realize it was his birthday, obviously. He got some stuffed animals from his Grandma Tucker and Tia Gina which he enjoyed snuggling. He also took 2 baby steps in August! (It's early September as I write this, and he's practically galloping now)

Ishmael goes through phases, but recently he's been pretty frustrating to try and parent. He's always sneaking off and doing exactly the most destructive thing he can think of. He only wants to seat from plastic utensils, and complains that his clothes are "tipping" if they're not laying perfectly flat, especially in the carseat. When my mom told him that he needed to obey her about something or other, he said, "interesting....". His new favorite book is the Jolly Pocket Postman.

I started "cooking" poke bowls, which are a big hit with the fam-bam, and I've been jamming to Lianne La Havas' new album, as well as this band called James Davis. I don't get a lot of leisurely listening time in these days (if music is on, it's usually Sesame Street or Veggie Tales - I've completely given in to children's music), but I do occasionally add tracks to my main Spotify playlist if I find something nifty.



A few things I found helpful or interesting this month include the website tofo.me, where you can pin images from instagram (really, it puts my spirit at ease, haha) like these amazing soap grapes from @orient499, this article about introversion being more nuanced than we generally think of it (in fact, there are 4 kinds, and you can take a quiz! I can't remember mine anymore), and a list of common mistakes travelers make in Japan (I didn't know about the sushi, though it makes total sense. Also, China shares the customs of using two hands to accept things, the use of business cards, no feet on the ground, and no chopsticks sticking up - it's like incense.)


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