#91 Vernazza
01 April 2018 // Vernazza, Italy
It was Easter Sunday and it was gorgeous.
Cinque Terre came as beautiful as advertised. It was a gorgeous day outside, so the park was pretty full of visitors especially in the center alleyways if each village.
Still, it wasn’t hard to pull back from the crowds and the hiking trails just outside of each one had incredible views and lots to stop and take in along the way.
It’s been a long winter. It’s time to lose the jackets and the feeling like I’m not doing enough.
#92 Cinque Terre
02 April 2018 // Manarola, Italy
Getting to see some of my favorite places with my favorite person. I think even after a bit of time has gone by I’ll still be digesting how thankful I am for these past few weeks.
#93 Monterosso
03 April 2018 // Monterosso al Mare, Italy
This trip has been a fantastic reminder of my own relationship with travel.
I’ve taken so many different kinds of trips in the past few years– work trips and fun trips and ones that blur the lines. Iconic cities and warm villages. Service trips and food adventures. Weekend camping trips and living abroad for months. There’s one thing that ties together all the best kinds of trips.
Connection.
Sometimes that means traveling overseas to reunite with friends. Other times it means asking for help and getting welcomed in by locals. Other times it’s a spiritual connection that gets stronger. Or a bond between you and your travel partner. This can look so many different ways, but if you ask me whether or not I had a good trip, the answer comes down to whether or not I experienced connection.
The answer is usually a resounding yes.
#94 Italian Marketplace
04 April 2018 // La Spezia, Italy
During our stay in La Spezia, we had this sweet marketplace just below our hotel the entire time. Some days they’d be selling vintage stuff, and other days it’d be more of a farmer’s market. We hopped out for one last look during our last day in town before making our way back home.
#95 Rome to Home
05 April 2018 // Copenhagen, Denmark
And now the journey home. The scenic route goes right over Copenhagen and these nearly untouched clumps of Greenland.
#96 Back Home
06 April 2018 // San Diego, California
Back at home and home feels nice.
#97 Beignet All Day
07 April 2018 // San Diego, California
Beignet all day in this year of the dog.
#98 Auntie Ella’s Birthday
08 April 2018 // Torrance, California
I can never say enough good things about my Auntie Ella. She’s my idea of what it looks like to live a good life. She’s worked hard but has never chosen to spend what she’s earned on herself. Instead she invested in everybody else in her life. Like, every single person. She’s helped people get education, housing, food, businesses, jobs, vehicles, medicine, books, surgeries, and so much more.
We got to celebrate her 85th birthday with her over the weekend and it was so great to see her so happy.
#99 Matt & Kim
09 April 2018 // San Diego, California
True story- Matt & Kim put on a really fun live show.
#100 Depot
10 April 2018 // San Diego, California
“But here’s the thing about time. No matter where you are, it moves in one direction. Forward.
And this linear movement is nature’s way of testing what we have labeled as meaningful. Only time can reveal whether a certain pursuit is driven by fleeting novelty, or if it motivated by a strong sense of purpose."
–More to That
#101 All Our Wrong Todays
11 April 2018 // San Diego, California
“That’s what love can do for you, if you let it— build a person out of all your broken pieces. It doesn’t matter if the stitches show. The stitches, the scars, just prove you earned it. And so I stop trying to keep all these versions of myself apart. Instead, I make us whole.”
Book No. 06 of 2018
Okay, this was an extremely fun and enjoyable read. When I saw that most of Elan Mastai’s prior writing had been for TV and movie scripts, it made perfect sense to me. It was so easy to visualize every fast paced turn of events as it happened.
So the story follows Tom, who lives in a totally different version of 2016 than the one we remember. He lives in a tech utopia, where war is obsolete, diseases are eradicated, and progress happens without a second thought. Then he accidentally time travels into our world, and that sets up a high energy Back-to-the-Future style storyline.
I had a good time reading this book. I loved Tom as a protagonist and narrator, and I look forward to wherever Elan Mastai goes from here.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#102 Costco Squad
12 April 2018 // San Diego, California
Kudos to Miguel for taking the most 🔥 squad photos a Costco has ever seen.
#103 OB Coworkers
13 April 2018 // San Diego, California
New study: weekends that start at Belching Beaver are 87% more likely to be a good one.
#104 Earthfest Oceanside
14 April 2018 // Oceanside, California
Today doesn’t have to be a handful. If you’re not feeling your to-do list, feel free to borrow this one for the day:
Do one thing to serve others, one thing to bring you a step closer to a big goal, and one thing to awaken your own sense of wonder. Just those three things and that’s it!
#105 Puppy Brigade
15 April 2018 // San Diego, California
Hey world, I’ve got the Puppy Brigade over here.
(If you’re imagining us strutting down the street right now, please imagine us doing so to HUMBLE.- thank you!)
#106 Matcha Joe-Joe’s
16 April 2018 // San Diego, California
Current obsession. I don’t know how long Trader Joe’s has been making these in a matcha flavor, but I’m definitely glad they are. Even if the cream filling does look a little bit like wasabi.
#107 Live Love Explore
17 April 2018 // San Diego, California
“What I have learned from my journeys is that I can’t truly experience a place if I am not willing to learn from it. The Way of the Traveler bars us from being experts. Once we are experts, we shut down, we lose our curiosity, we think we know too much. The Way of the Traveler demands that we stay students, learning from the chorus of teachers that surrounds us if we’re only willing to listen.”
–Leon Logothetis
Book No. 07 of 208
This was a good read! At first I was expecting something a bit heavy on platitudes on things I already agreed with, but it turns out, the book makes for a great guide to incorporating exploring, learning, and giving into your own life and story.
I actually found the most benefit in the little Q&A exercises the book has sprinkled within each chapter. It made it less about another person’s story and more about engaging your own.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#108 Eye Heart OB
18 April 2018 // San Diego, California
At first I came home thinking I would get even more things done after work and put a real dent in this week’s list. Then that started to feel kind of isolating so I went on a wander around the neighborhood instead.
That resulted in a grand total of zero regrets.
Productivity is great and all, but it’s totally like a dog that just wants to pull you ahead if you don’t have the right grip on its leash.
We’ll get to where we need to be. There’s plenty of good stuff along the way too.
#109 Beignet & Bandit
19 April 2018 // San Diego, California
We’ve wondered for a little while how it would be to have a two-dog household. Now we know. I’m a fan of it. And why stop there?
#110 The New plantwithpurpose.org
20 April 2018 // San Diego, California
When I started working at Plant With Purpose, one of the first things I wanted to do was to get us a new website. I think the work we do in the field is innovative, urgent, compelling, and worthy of attention. I thought our digital presence should reflect that too.
I’m no developer, but I do love to examine and investigate what sets apart the websites that capture my interest versus the ones I ignore. I learned a lot about what makes for an effective site throughout the process and ended up designing a wireframe for the site we wanted. I made a mockup using Adobe Programs and passed it along to an amazing developer who turned the vision into reality.
I don’t know if you’ve ever worked on a project like this, but it can be quite the journey. I’ve now been at Plant With Purpose for over a year but this month, that site was finally launched. It felt like such a relief to have gotten to that point.
Please, check it out! And read about our mission. I’m glad to have my role to play when it comes to global sustainability.
#111 Battle Trail
21 April 2018 // San Diego, California
“One person appears to be keeping silent and yet condemns others in his heart; such a person is speaking all the time. Another person talks from morning to evening and yet keeps silent; that is, he says nothing except that which is helpful to others.”
–Abba Poeman
#112 Balboa Earthfest
22 April 2018 // San Diego, California
Not a bad day to hang out outside and talk to people about sustainability. #balboaearthfestival
#113 Pam’s Kitchen Table
23 April 2018 // San Diego, California
We heard the sound of jazz and we were lured by a sign that said “Gumbo and beignets. Tonight only.” We looked in and saw a narrow restaurant. The candles and music made me think it would be a fancy one.
We got a seat and ordered a plate of beignets to split. We enjoyed them, then met the owners of the place.
Pam and her boyfriend just moved to San Diego to start Pamela’s Kitchen Table. Before that she lived in Louisiana and in Australia, actually working for the Irwin family. That Irwin family. She’d been a personal chef but the restaurant thing was a new endeavor.
She told us their soft launch was going well and they were mostly finding out what possible menu items would work. They’d already had to deal with curveballs like a no-show sous chef and a noise complaining neighbor.
Then they brought us out some gumbo to try, and that is one good way to get a customer for life. I’m glad we’re getting a Cajun spot with cool owners and I hope they do really well.
#114 San Diego Republic
24 April 2018 // San Diego, California
“The most beautiful people I’ve known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths."
Dr. Elizabeth Kugler-Ross
#115 First Staff Retreat
25 April 2018 // San Diego, California
I’ve had my hands full with our staff retreat this week, but it’s been good times. One of my favorite takeaways was the importance of results, processes, and relationships. Neglecting any one of these things can result in negative outcomes.
📸: Miguel
#116 Team Plant With Purpose
26 April 2018 // San Diego, California
It’s been a really fun week. I love working with this team and it’s actually pretty rare that we’re all physically in the same spot. This staff retreat was a blast.
📸: Miguel
#117 Go Gary!
27 April 2018 // San Diego, California
If there’s anybody who should be giving a lecture about the importance of PLAY, it’s my friend Gary. That’s why I was thrilled he was the featured speaker of this month’s Creative Mornings meetup.
Needless to say, Gary killed it. Play makes everything better.
#118 Bye Bye Bandit
28 April 2018 // San Diego, California
One of us had a really hard time having to see Bandit go back home. Beignet stayed on the grass and was pretty much crying for the next three hours.
That was the saddest thing to have to listen to. We’ll see if we get through this weekend without getting a second dog.
#119 Infinity War
29 April 2018 // San Diego, California
As a kid, I couldn’t play with action figures unless the story ultimately resulted in some battle that required the involvement of every single figure I owned... and even some things that weren’t quite action figures. Board game pieces. Honey bear containers. Precious Moments figurines. (They don’t look useful in combat, but they got the power of prayer!)
All that to say, Marvel seems to get how I like my stories to end and I knew I had to get to my favorite theatre in town for Infinity War.
#120 Salt & Straw Young Inventors
30 April 2018 // San Diego, California
All month, Salt & Straw’s been running a few limited edition Young Inventors flavors, designed by elementary school kids. We got to taste them all.
To the kid who made Lots a’ Nacho - I got a mouth full of tortilla chips in that scoop, but I like the way you operate! You see things that 95% of the world don’t think go together and believe they can mesh beautifully. That’s the sort of thing that gives us stuff like Space Jam. We definitely need more people who think that way.
To the kid who made The Cookie Monster - You know how to play to your strengths! Cookies are great, why not make a great ice cream by loading it up with cookies! Substitute cookies with friends and ice cream with life, and magic will happen.
To the kid who made Maple PB Brioche French Toast - I don’t think I learned what brioche was until I was 17. You are ahead of your years and that’s nothing to be ashamed of! Never lose your appreciation for a full breakfast.
To the kid who made Mango Chamoy Sorbet - I ordered a full scoop of your creation! The chamoy was the perfect tongue tickle. I think you were inspired by a treat that reminds you of home. Always take the time to celebrate where you come from.
To the kid who made Coke Float Caramel Volcano - I think you took something that you really enjoyed and then decided to bring that to others. That way of doing things works for so much more than ice cream, but it works pretty well for ice cream too.