Counting Down the Cottonballs

This post is proof that inspiration is everywhere you look.  I have been meaning to blog for a few days now and just didn’t really know where to begin.

This time of year is once again proving to be bittersweet.  Oddly enough, this year is almost more so than the last.  It’s the middle of September (que Daughtry, anyone?), the weather is slowly changing and school is creeping around the corner.  This is the week of awful goodbyes; endless hours of shopping, packing, and organizing; and (thankfully) wonderful hellos.  This week is absolutely physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting.  The end of summer has a way of doing that to me.

It’s not over yet, though.  Summer lasts until the first day of classes so I still got some time. :)

So where did I find inspiration?  Cottonballs.  I use four cottonballs every day (two for makeup removal and two for a toner application) and tonight mom asked how many I would need since I had just gone through my bag.  It is weird—I can feel how close school is by counting down the cottonballs.  And, in this strange place, I suddenly felt like writing.

Mom and I have been doing a lot of shopping.  The other day, it was like a scene from a movie.  We were in H&M, back to back.  We turned around at the exact same time holding the exact same hat.  Needless to say, the angora leopard print beret is now in my room.  And yes, I’m serious.  It’s fabulous in a “Sex in the City” sort of way.

Today we made our very-annual trip out to Palo Alto for some cupcakes.  Before the sugar high, we stopped at Ikea.  We had a great time wandering throughout the store—avoiding small children and annoying couples (“Ohh, honey, we need to look at lighting” “*sigh*”) and ended up buying a few things we didn’t necessarily need.  Yes, this includes Sweedish meatballs.  No, you, the reader, cannot judge.

In front of a seasonal glass display at the outdoor mall <3

At the mall, we hit up a few stores and made our way to Sprinkles.  These cupcakes are special.  Instead of writing about their buttery, light, creamy, moist, cakey, beautiful goodness, I will let the picture speak.  Haha, too late maybe?

Dark chocolate with dark chocolate frosting and.. dark chocolate SPRINKLES!

Well, anyway, if you know me well enough you know I get bored pretty quickly.  If you don’t know me that well, ask to see some pictures of my hair for the past three years.  So I think it’s time for “Fearless” to be renamed and redesigned.  Don’t misunderstand—I am still going to blog with this website, I am just changing the logo, background and name.  “Fearless” has served its purpose well and has been the perfect diary to my Roman summer.  Now that summer is nearing an end, I think it is fitting to change things up and give this blog a new feel.  So look forward to that very soon.  I hope you enjoy.

“Feeling kinda sick?  Just a spoon full of sugar make it better real quick, Everybody wants some, Melodies that get stuck, Up in your head “ –Sugarland (P.S. If you have not seen the video for this song, “Stuck Like Glue”, go watch it.)

Miracles Don’t Smack You Across the Head Everyday

The day started off well enough.  Huck was dropped off at the trainer so mom and I had the day to go somewhere.  We decided on Santa Cruz for our annual shopping day.

Yelp is my best friend.  We found a seafood place on the wharf that was absolutely fantastic.  I have only seen my mom eat that much once before in my life—it was quite impressive and frightening.  Once we had adequately stuffed ourselves, we drove downtown for a good hour’s worth of shopping.  The weather wasn’t perfect but, for the Northern California coast, it was a pretty day.  We figured we would hit some traffic going back and we couldn’t be late to pick up Huck so after shopping we had just enough time to get candy.  Taffy and truffles made the perfect afternoon snack.

We started making our way back and traffic was blissfully light until we were about thirty minutes away which was going to make us about ten minutes late.  And the ten minutes was increasing proportionally with the brake lights in front of us.  Thank goodness for GPS, we simply hit “detour” and took the scenic route.

One of my favorite routes in the area, actually, a two-lane highway surrounded with beautiful trees and running along a creek.  Country music blasting, traffic behind us, we were having a great ride.

Suddenly the Jeep in front of us started creeping to the right.  My first thought was, “How stupid to go off-roading here” my second was, “Oh my God, he’s not off-roading”.  My mom pulled over instantly and ran out of the car while I called 911.  I began to describe the situation and pulled the keys out of the ignition.  Mom was running back towards me and I jumped out, fearing the worst.  Indeed it was not the best (and thankfully, not the worst) news, the man was awake but not coherent, there was a large amount of smoke, and he was unreachable.  I finished up with 911 and we got back in the car.  We started to drive away, knowing we were going to be very late to pick up Huck, but we both knew we had to go back.  Mom turned around (this is impressive in itself on this highway) and we parked again.  We got out and the fire had become massive.  I called 911 again to tell them they needed to bring more water.  Now the car was enclosed in black smoke and there was no sign of the man.  Mom was hailing down traffic and finally a man in a work truck stopped.  No one had a fire extinguisher and I was beginning to really fear the worst.  There was no way to get to the man and there was a big fire.  Nothing looked promising.

Finally a county fire (pickup) truck arrived.  The man who stopped grabbed the fireman’s extinguisher and ran over while we talked to the fireman.  The extinguisher was pointless and thrown aside.  Suddenly, he was screaming for help and honking the horn.  Seconds (which felt like hours) later, the other (big) fire trucks arrived.  We ran back and forth between the vehicles to communicate with all the new people on the scene.  Finally, we got out of the way and watched.  I was quite shaken up and realized I could not help.  I realized my only power was prayer.  I remember saying something like, “I know I only pray when I need something and I’m sorry.  But I pray this man will be ok and that he is not burning.  And for his family.”  His license plate told us he was handicapped and a Naval officer.   We told 911 and the men on scene that he may not be able to walk, we didn’t know.  After the fire was tamed, they had a plastic stretcher and carried it down.  This seemed like good news until it came back up and the man who had stopped first signaled to the men.  The signal made our hearts skip—the signal with his hand across his neck.

I looked at Mom and she looked back.  Suddenly, we saw a new guy.  Supported by two firemen, the man was able to walk up the steep hill out of his car.  He looked unscratched.

So many things could have been different about today.  We almost didn’t take the shortcut; we almost got back on the freeway halfway down the road.   We almost shopped longer, almost sat down to get coffee; Mom almost didn’t cut off a couple of trucks before the pass.  The man could just as easily not have stopped and put out some of the fire by the driver’s door.  God put us there, in that exact place at that moment in time, for a reason and the moment we saw the man all we could say was "thank God".  There weren’t many cars around; in fact, none behind us when the accident happened.  If we were not there, that man’s fate may have been different. The trees hid his location and the first indication of an accident would be the smoke.  By the time the smoke hit the road, it may have been too late.

So, it’s not every day that a miracle jumps out at you with a parade and banner that says,  “HEY! I’M A MIRACLE!”  But those little diversions throughout the day, minor decisions we make, and actions that we take may just save someone’s life—whether we know it or not.

"Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride" --Gary Allan

Bugs.

I do not like bugs.  Ok ok-- some bugs are tolerable like ladybugs, butterflies, dragonflies, and rolly pollies.  But most bugs freak me out, particularly spiders.
Wouldn't you know it, right before we leave for southern California last week, I spot this just off of our porch.

These two spiders are gigantic and quite evil looking.  I'm definitely not too sure what God had in mind here, except perhaps something along the lines of "HA!  Revenge..".  Yeah, I don't know.  But we were already running late so we figured we would deal with them when we got back from LA.

We were hanging out at our friends' house on our last day in so Cal.  One of the girls asked my mom, "Aunt Katie, is that a nail on the ceiling?".  And that's where it all began.  My Aunt Daisy attacked the "nail" with a Swiffer.  Can you see where this is going?  The "nail" was alive.

My mom picked it up with a tissue and inspected it when it began to twitch and spaz out.  We got pretty close to it and tried to figure out what it was.  I must admit it was pretty interesting looking.  It had claw-like features on both ends of its body and skin that looked like scales.  At first, I was convinced it was a freakishly small reptile.  Well, Moorea was brave enough to take the beast and put it outside.  But, not before I got a picture-- just for the blog (and the insane memory).

NOTE: this is the taquito bag.  Yes, I'm serious.

This thing moved moved from the front and the back and the claws were freaky.  We started Googling.  Aunt Daisy started with "worm that looks like a twig" and immediately found our intruder.  Technically just a moth larvae (seriously, an ordinary caterpillar inchworm) this worm is shockingly common and has an incredible resemblance to a twig.

When we got home, our eight-legged "friend" was still hanging out, minus his buddy.  Goodness knows what happened to the other guy but my guess is he got eaten.  And, even a week later, the big guy is still out there.  Dad keeps saying he'll move it but I think we're all a little freaked out to even approach the thing.  Mom poked the web with a stick and instead of running like a normal spider, he tried to attack the stick.  And this thing is living outside of my house.  Wonderful.

"It's a dirty free-for-all" --Ke$ha

Some Things Never Change

It’s cool when your senses are so completely overwhelmed with goodness.  Like being immersed in a vibrant image, drowning in the music at a concert, and succumbing to the buttery texture of Italian leather boots.  This is how I felt in my (great) Uncle Ray’s kitchen.  This particular night, he was cooking for my sister's 30th birthday.  The smell of garlic, butter, shrimp and herbs was delightfully surrounding.  I remember this spot well, kneeling on this wooden bench looking over the stovetop and watching Uncle Ray cook.  He is an excellent chef and growing up I loved watching and learning from him.  He has been in this kitchen for over thirty years and he knows just how to use every inch of the space.  The clock on the stove has read the same time for at least nineteen years.  The pots, cookbooks and refrigerator magnets (including the one that reads “Ethel’s Ray’s Kitchen”) have been the same as long as I can remember.

Kari’s birthday was fun; the Angel’s definitely gave her one of her birthday wishes by winning 12-3 (or somewhere around there).  Mom and I went to Disneyland that morning since our passes were about to expire.  Morning is definitely the best time to go in summer because it’s before the kids are awake and before the sun begins to really heat up.

Our first day in Manhattan Beach, we stopped for coffee at Coffee Bean.  We couldn’t resist splitting the mini chocolate bundt cake.  I won’t even describe how good it was but I will share a quote from that experience: "Mom, this is really good but the grease spot on the napkin is slightly disconcerting", she replied, "That's my drool."

Our (hostesses in Manhattan Beach + us) quick trip to El Pollo Loco was quite embarrassing to us “kids”.  The moms decided it would be a good idea to go through drive through twice, ask if the lady remembered us and order a ridiculous amount of taquitos, fried food and ice cream.  We’re not fat, we swear.
"God is great, beer is good and people are crazy" --Billy Currington

Photos: My Favorites, Photoshopped (2)

As promised, the last of the images :)

Swiss Guards at the Vatican

From the Top of St. Peter's

Sidewalk Chalk, Rome

Traffic in Rome

Street Performers, Florence

Ominous Cruise Ship (somewhere around Monte Carlo)

Paris Metro Sign

Traffic in Paris

Photos: My Favorites, Photoshopped (1)

Ok, I know I have posted a lot of pictures recently.  I promise, this is the second to last one of my Europe pics.  These last two posts are a little bit more special to me because they are images that I manipulated in some way that I think makes them better.  My personal favorite (of all my Europe pics) is below, the picture of two young Italians playing hacky sack in the middle of a piazza (plaza) in Rome.  For me, it captures the simple essence of the beautiful people, lifestyle and country of Italy.

Trastevere-- street magic show

"Wedding Crashers"

My favorite neon sign in Trastevere

Sculpture inside a Roman Church

Lizards, Italian countryside

Italian countryside

Hacky sack players in Rome

The street outside of our apartment

Photos: Night (1)

Trastevere

St. Peter's, after midnight

Lights at the Roman festival

Fireworks from the festival

St. Mark's Square, Venice

Paris