Bye Summer!

by Amanda

instax pictures

I’ve been back from SoCal for a couple of days now. What did I do for 10 days in SoCal? I ate. I ate a lot. I always eat a lot, but my goodness the amount of money I spent on food this trip was just ridiculous. I won’t disclose the amount, but let’s just say I will be eating home-cooked meals for a long, long time. (Time to refine my cooking skills!)

It was a great visit, though. Matt and I found out that 10 days is the perfect amount of days to be at home. Neither of us are too close with our families and we’re just the type of people that can only take so much of them at once. They often expect a lot of us when we go back, such as spending all hours of our days with them. I understand it’s because our families miss us, but I wish I could unsee the disappointment on their face when we don’t meet that expectation. Going back home is a vacation for us. We wanted to spend our time catching up on the food, places, and friends that we missed so much as well.

Anyway, moving on.

I know the thought of home makes me feel a bit sad, but actually being back home (SoCal) made me really happy. I had no idea how much I missed my friends and family until I actually got to spend time with them. I guess you truly don’t appreciate the things that are gone until you’ve been given the chance to experience them again. I just wish I could have came up with more interesting things to do than eat. There has to be another activity to do while catching up other than eating, right?! Well, whatever it is, I haven’t figured it out. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Mickey Cake Pop

I also took my annual trip to Disneyland, this time along with one of my dear friends from high school. It’s been so long since we spent that much time together — 3 years! This time, I didn’t get to take many pictures. Seeing as how I come back to Disney at least once a year, I don’t think I’ll be missing much not having pictures this one time. I was super excited to use my instax printer, but I forgot to take a lot of pictures for it. I guess this means I’ll have a lot of film for other pictures. 😛

I’m also pretty darn happy because I got to watch the World of Color show. Yes, I do believe it’s better than fireworks. 😛 Please excuse the phone picture. It’s so difficult to use my camera while standing on the tips of my toes. I was stuck standing behind a guy that was around 6ft tall. ;-; I wish tall people would be more aware of tiny 5ft tall girls behind them (me, hah).

world of color

Since I ate out so much, I have a ton of opinions (and food pictures) I’m excited to share. One of the places I ate at was a sushi place. Unfortunately I will not be reviewing this place with pictures since I didn’t feel right taking any while I was there. I felt like it was a highly encouraged media-free zone since there was a “no cell phones” sign displayed. I figured it wouldn’t be appropriate to pull out my clunky camera. It was pretty small and cramped anyways so I guess that saved me the trouble! Anyway, it was delicious. This restaurant served sushi as close to the authentic way as it could. There were no American-style rolls offered. This meant no crunchy rolls drenched in sauce. It was quite a refreshing sushi experience. The nigiri was actually served with a little bit of wasabi under the fish — just the way I like it. The fish felt so milky that it almost melts in your mouth. Ugh, I wish I could have gotten pictures to share. It was very pricey, but worth every dollar. Here’s to Ohshima Japanese — I’m definitely coming back when I, uh…, have more money.

My whole “plan everything ahead of time” behavior made this trip so much easier for me. I always waste so much time trying to figure out where I want to go next that I never end up anywhere at all. This time, I actually planned each of my meals and each of the places I intended to visit. Not all of it worked out, but hey, I’m flexible. I do wish I got to visit the museums that I planned to visit. There’s always next time.

With all that being said, I’m pretty sad that my classes will begin next week, but at the same time I’m looking forward to them. This trip home set my sleep schedule back on track and I’m hoping school will keep it that way. Sometimes it’s fun to sleep past noon, but it’s definitely not productive. If life goes as planned, I really must get used to being up at 7AM or earlier! I wish I had more of a summer to just sit and relax though, since I’ve had work all day, everyday since I got back.

Leave a Reply to NellieCancel reply

8 comments

Nancy September 27, 2014 - 10:27 PM

Hope you enjoyed your time back in SoCal! I feel you about spending time with family :I. I’m the type who doesn’t like to spend too much time with my family (because someone’s bound to get mad or something)

!!! Disneyland!!! I was just there yesterday :D. The World of Color show is AMAZING. Fun fact: my work also makes one of the water special effects that’s used in the WoC (and Pirates too). I want to say it’s a bit ridiculous that the sushi place discourages technology but then again, I kind of understand its goal for authenticity. But how else would users share their items?? Unless they don’t care *__*/. And planning = win because it makes the whole activity process more efficient.

Good luck with your classes!!

Reply
Amanda September 28, 2014 - 12:10 AM

Thanks! Shame we weren’t there on the same day! Would have been fun to get a pic together ^-^ and ah yeah, I saw there are user pics on the restaurant’s Yelp page, but I just felt suuper uncomfortable with the whole no phone thing that they wanted.

Reply
Michelle September 28, 2014 - 8:35 PM

Aw, Disneyland. I really wish to go there. Will it be sad to say that I’ve never went nor went on a plane before? I hoping to change that because I’m finally working to get a passport. 🙂 Best of luck with your classes~

Reply
Jackie September 28, 2014 - 10:27 PM

Aw man, I totally get the food thing. I swear 75% of all the money I spend goes toward food, haha. I’m of the mindset though that it’s better to spend money on experiences rather than things (or at least that’s how I rationalize all the money I spend…) 🙂

It sounds like you had a good time back at home! I hope your school year goes well too~

Reply
Alice B September 29, 2014 - 12:10 AM

Eating is such a guilty pleasure. I swear it is; be it because someone is on diet or someone’s trying to save on a budget haha food is always engaging us in a love hate relationship! what a difficult bond to maintain. I can so feel your problem there. I experienced the same thing when I was in hong kong – aside from the crazy drugstore products haul, I was always hunting for food and snacks, geez. and now I’ve gained like 1-2 kg and am freaking out about it. sigh, the downfall of being so insecure and weight conscious, you see.

I have a feeling that when I finally have a job on my own and have a flat on my own (i don’t wanna say “my own family” yet because…yeah, i don’t want that yet LOL), i probably wouldn’t spend all hours with my relatives and stuff too. heck, even now i don’t like spending time with them haha it sucks when you’re in a family gathering and all they talk about is how you’re not enough for their expectations. (and don’t get started on the disappointment on their face, man…it’s like they’re throwing you that pathetic pitiful look) I’ll check on my parents, of course, because i’m the only child yea but spending hours with relatives haha NO

being a shut in lonewolf myself, i don’t really go out with my friends either. there’s only one person that i can hang out with for more than 10 hours and that’s my high school friend; other than her, i can’t really stand the others LOL i’m just so lazy to go out ugh *sloth*

awwwwhh disneyland! honestly, i’ve never been to one. not even when i was in hong kong. friend told me that the best one to go is in japan so i should make japan’s disneyland my first disneyland stop, followed by japan’s disneysea haha (friend also said disneysea rides are probably more of my forte because, and i quote from her, “disneyland rides are for babies” TTwTT)

it’s too bad you couldn’t take pics and review the sushi :(( i like seeing myself suffer from my blog buddies sushi post – ahem nancy of colorfulistic for example haha

Reply
Amanda September 29, 2014 - 2:50 PM

I know! I really dislike family gatherings because they get super nosy about your life and start giving you unwanted advice.

Oh my goodness, yes. You should definitely head to Disney Japan. 🙂 I really want to go there! If you do go, take a billion pictures please so I can experience it through you. 😛

Reply
Nellie September 30, 2014 - 6:28 PM

I come from a family where food is a central feature of our get togethers, so I’m a big fan of eating when I visit family. I’m definitely not judging you for eating so much! Haha.

I am so jealous that you get to go to Disneyland ANNUALLY! I’ve never been, and I probably won’t ever go. The unfortunate side effect of being from New Zealand, poor and chronically ill. Wah. I shall live vicariously through people who post pretty pictures on their blogs instead.

Reply
Becca October 1, 2014 - 4:03 PM

Haha! This reminds me so much of myself! When Andrew and I went to Ohio, we spent SOOO much money on food. At the end of the week, we couldn’t believe it. So we were both a little short on cash the next couple of weeks. ;P Eating is such a perfect and fun way to spend time with another person. If you wanted a cheaper alternative with the same kind of setting, a coffee date would be a good idea. Or, me and my best friend like to go for walks in the evening so you could maybe pick a park or some (free) attraction to walk and talk.

AW! That first picture of the lollipop/cookie/thing with the castle in the background is so perfect! I’ve never been to Disneyland since it is so far away from me, but I’ve been to DisneyWorld and it makes me want to go back!!

I’m glad you had such an amazing time and I hope that you can visit there again soon!

Reply

This website uses cookies for analytics. By continuing to view this website, you accept the terms. Accept Read More