calm me down

i always get super excited when i think about visiting norcal again, particularly when there's a three-day weekend, or any longer than two-day weekends really... this past weekend was mlk's birthday and i so wanted to and had plans of visiting. alas, friends' schedules couldn't be aligned, so i stayed home and organized more things around my new apartment and did some more yoga. did i mention i now live in my very own studio? after so many years of sharing living space with other people, there's no other liberating feeling than to have your own space. i walk around naked if that gives you a clear definition of "liberating." i do for me and no one else. i'm enjoying this quite well...

(i'm trying to revive the gifted plants above due to being neglected from having moved twice in five months and taking care of some business. no excuses, i know. i have three more that i need to save and so many more i want to get to put around the studio.)

so, norcal. i know i often stress how much i miss it, so i try to visit as much as i can, only because there are friends that live there that i treasure greatly. and mostly because nature is so beautiful up there. i daydream often when i'm at work, sitting at my desk, staring at my computer screen, how nice it would be to be hiking up a mountain, even as cold as it could be, to just feel that kind of air hit your skin, enter your lungs, and become one with it. sounds dramatic i know, but i dream it all the time. it's a feeling. it's a feeling.

come february, i will be in you, norcal, for a sweet valentine visit! i can't wait to be one with you again.

summerland

a cozy little beach town 6 miles south of santa barbara. I was suprised at how unpopulated the beach was. parking is free and there's a barbeque/picnic area separated from the beach with a hill. oh, and it's cleaaaan!

going back this weekend to bask in the last days of summer before fall arrives. i'll be the one doing cartwheels if any of you also happen to be there. winkemoticon.

observations

things i often murmur to myself—
"easy, mae. easy." 
"cool your jets, mae. cool your jets." 
"let it go. let. it. go."
"it's no big deal. no biggie. smalls." 
"peace. peas. easy peasy." 

-i'm running errands in the summer heat today and might possibly attend a birthday party tonight, then a baby shower tomorrow. social anxiety on full force this weekend. 

-speaking of anxiety, i might need to cut down on coffee. four cups a day cannot be good...

-bathrooms have the greatest acoustics. i'm recording my first album in a bathroom.