#121 Waiting For God
01 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“As one has to learn to read or to practice a trade, so one must learn to feel in all things, first and almost solely, the obedience of the universe to God. It is really an apprenticeship. Like every apprenticeship, it takes time and effort.”
–Simone Weil
Book No. 08 of 2018
This was the first I’ve read of Simone Weil beyond a few scattered quotes, and wow, her writing is sharp, honest, and challenging.
Waiting for God is a collection of essays and letters, largely her correspondence with a priest who was a dear friend. She discusses her reluctance towards baptism, connects her own spirituality with other cultural encounters, and unpacks what it really means to love your neighbor.
In spite of how long ago this was written, Simone Weil is such a compelling communicator that it was easy to get a sense of what she was like as a person. Extremely open minded, capable of seeing things through so many different lenses, while at the same time being completely honest things she can’t buy into completely, refusing to practice something without being convinced of its significance.
I have a lot of respect for her work, and this is one piece I’m really thankful to have read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
#122 Leisure Lagoon
02 May 2018 // San Diego, California
It’s always pretty mind blowing when you try and connect the dots to figure out how you got where you are. Who are the people you spend the most time with and how did you meet them? What episodes of your life led to your current job? How did you end up in whatever city you’re in?
Whenever I get a little taste of that perspective, I’m reminded that it’s always more worthwhile to pursue purpose over comfort.
#123 Cliffside
03 May 2018 // San Diego, California
I turn 28 by the end of the week. I can’t claim to be in my mid-twenties anymore. When your age ends with 7, you can kind of stretch it. 8? Yeah, you gotta start using that “late-" prefix.
I’m really happy about where I am right now, and at the same time, it can be hard to remember that. It’s so easy to be given a new opportunity, a great job, a beautiful relationship, and then to have it get so familiar that you forget the marvel that each one is. It’s easier to get caught up in thinking of what could go wrong, what’s still missing, and all that.
But each one of those things is a gift, and each one’s a reminder that God’ll make things work out beautifully in the right time, and not a moment sooner. If life is a bit of a comedy, then timing is a part of the art.
#124 Volcano Rabbit
04 May 2018 // San Diego, California
I don’t deal with the Gaslamp Quarter very much, especially on Friday nights. I never had enough of a reason to swim through the chaos.
Deanna made us reservations at Volcano Rabbit, though, and now I have a few more reasons. To name a few- the octopus taco, the shortrib mole, and the yummy mezcal old fashioned.
#125 Twentyeight
05 May 2018 // San Diego, California
I’ve got it good.
Thank you everybody for the birthday wishes, the texts, the sushi rolls, the memes, the chocolate, the Phillies win, the clear water, the bookstores, the ice cream, the matcha latte, the paw prints, and the good times.
Two years left to finish off everything on that twenties bucket list. I’m not even sure what items I have left to do but I’m happy to have some fun people to collect those checkmarks with.
#126 Puppy Cousin Conference
06 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Imagine taking your kid to a playground with about 150 other kids, telling them that two of them are their cousins, and leaving it up to them to go find each other.
We tried the dog equivalent of this with Beignet and her puppy cousins, with some success.
#127 No Future Without Forgiveness
07 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“One of the most blasphemous consequences of injustice, especially racist injustice, is that it can make a child of God doubt that he or she is a child of God.“
–Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Book No. 09 of 2018
I have a ton of respect for Desmond Tutu, and reading this book of his was long overdue. Hooray for running into this copy at the library bookstore.
Of all the accounts I’ve read of apartheid’s end, this was probably the one I was most enriched by. Tutu unpacks the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission- a group that is so easy to romanticize, but one that earned its legacy through difficult decisions, risks, and listening.
Tutu goes into detail when recalling how brutal apartheid was and how much suffering it caused. The way so many South Africans were dehumanized then reminded me of current events closer to home. Change is still needed, but it’s also still possible.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#128 Padres v. Nationals
08 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Finally got to my first game of the season just in time to watch Bryce Harper go 0-for-4 while freaking Jeremy Hellickson almost throw a perfect game against the Padres.
Here’s hoping this is the first of many more stadium trips.
#129 Pupusa Night
09 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Grabbing pupusas at the OB Farmer’s Market because a night like this one was long overdue.
#130 Beignet on the Rocks
10 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“We are sometimes inclined to think that the same things are monotonously repeated over and over again in the history of creation. That is because the season is too long by comparison with the brevity of our individual lives and the transformation too vast and too inward by comparison with our restricted outlook, for us to see the progress..."
–Teilhard de Chardin
#131 New Cuyama
11 May 2018 // New Cuyama, California
We got into our campsite a little after dark. A bummer, at first, since I’d spent peak hours for photo lighting stuck in traffic.
But then, those stars. The pics don’t do them justice, but I hardly care. I can’t remember the last time I had a sky full of stars that bright and clear.
#132 Blue Sky
12 May 2018 // New Cuyama, California
This weekend.
This place.
These people.
It was everything I could’ve wanted from the past couple of days.
#133 Mothers Day 18
13 May 2018 // Bakersfield, California
Made it to Bakersfield this weekend just in time to surprise my mother in law for Mother’s Day, before making it to San Diego to take my mom out to dinner for Mother’s Day.
Yay for all the moms.
#134 Daring Greatly
14 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“Connection is why we're here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. The power that connection holds in our lives was confirmed when the main concern about connection emerged as the fear of disconnection; the fear that something we have done or failed to do, something about who we are or where we come from, has made us unlovable and unworthy of connection.”
–Brene Brown
Book No. 10 of 2018
I’ve been trying to focus more of my reading this year on books that I should’ve read long ago. This one’s a great example. I’ve read several of Brene Brown’s others and her TED talks have been among my favorite, but despite this one being her most known, I hadn’t gotten to it until now.
I loved it. I found a good portion of this book to be extremely relatable, helpful, and encouraging.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#135 The Food Lab
15 May 2018 // San Diego, California
This package from my sis-in-law showed up last week- what a perfect birthday gift!
Kenji is one of my favorites. I believe he wrote more about eggs in this book than I wrote in my masters’ thesis. And that’s just the first chapter.
#136 Coffee & Writing
16 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Today’s work featured a lot of writing, so here’s today’s workspace. For a long time, coffee shops were pretty much my only workspace. I don’t mind the flashback.
#137 Law St. Beach
17 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent.”
–Barbara Bush
#138 Temporary Palaces
18 May 2018 // Solana Beach, California
True statement. All palaces are temporary palaces. Any guesses where I found it? On the side of a very high-end furniture store in one of our most upscale neighborhoods.
Fitting.
I don’t think we can be reminded enough of how the things we tend to hold in such high regard- status, capital, political power, influence, followers- those things don’t last. Whoever’s on top in almost any arena probably won’t be in ten years.
It doesn’t mean that building things, leadership, and ability are meaningless. But it does mean that they get their meaning from being bigger than any one person, and in order to do truly meaningful work, it can’t be just about yourself.
#139 Tiger Stalking
19 May 2018 // Escondido, California
This Weekend Was Wild feat. DJ Richard Parker.
#140 Lunch at Ortiz’s
20 May 2018 // San Diego, California
My new week’s resolution is to come by here way more often.
#141 Everybody Always
21 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“After long enough, what looks like faith isn’t really faith anymore. It’s just compliance. The problem with mere compliance is it turns us into actors. Rather than making decisions ourselves, we read the lines off the script someone we were told to respect handed to us, and we sacrifice our ability to decide for ourselves.” . “The fix for all this is as easy as the problem is hard. Instead of telling people what they want, we need to tell them who they are. We’ll become in our lives whoever the people we love the most say we are.”
–Bob Goff
Book No. 11 of 2018
This book was exactly what I’d expect from Bob Goff, in the best way possible. Several simple but profound chapters that make you smile and get you wanting to do bold things with the life you’ve been given.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
#142 Kakawa Coffee
22 May 2018 // San Diego, California
This little spot opened up in my neighborhood two weeks ago and I’m loving it. Kakawa Coffee didn’t take long to make it onto my list of favorites. The Kakawa latte might be my go-to, but the dulce de leche espresso is always a good option too.
Also, that’s Gladys behind the counter, and she’s the nicest! Say some prayers for her homeland of Venezuela. It’s going through a real rough time right now.
#143 Incarceration
23 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Honestly, I don’t give enough thought to the issue of incarceration. My church hosts a monthly meeting focused on racial reconciliation, and last night this was the topic. I had the chance to hear from a couple where the husband spent 25 years behind bars.
Hearing their story- especially their memories of family visits and raising kids with one parent locked away was pretty powerful. What really stood out to me was when the man started sharing about his own childhood, growing up with a mom who’d been assaulted. These things are totally cycles that get passed from one generation to the next.
It’s a complicated issue, and I’m definitely not an expert in spite of all those Ear Hustle episodes I’ve gone through at the gym. I just know that prison shouldn’t be seen as an easy, out-of-sight solution. Everything that happens to a prisoner after a sentence also has huge impacts, at a generational level.
I think that Jesus was being real deliberate when he noted the way we treat those in prison as equal to the way we treat God.
#144 Happy Lunch Ballgame
24 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Turning the lunch break into Little League is always a good idea. Especially when Little League includes pizza, Capri-Suns, sunflower seeds, and Big League Chew.
#145 Yes Week End
25 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
–Christopher McCandless
Yes, week end.
#146 Mom’s 63rd
26 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Celebrating my mom’s birthday with family over the weekend was a blast because #ballislife
#147 Hanging Tomato
27 May 2018 // San Diego, California
This long weekend so far:
🍤 Stepping in a World Market and discovering that they’re giving gift cards to whoever can find a golden seahorse in the store. I love a good scavenger hunt so it took all but 20 minutes to find it hidden in a stack of bath towels. Then it took a few hours to figure out how to make the most of my $20.
🍅 Successfully building a hanging upside-down planter for our tomato to grow from underneath some snapdragons. Here’s to re-wilding the house.
#148 Memorial BBQ
28 May 2018 // San Diego, California
Really good weekend. Maybe my first time enjoying ribs-in-a-pool. Definitely my first time trying Andrew’s mixology skills and they are sharp. Would recommend both.
#149 The Lowlands
29 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“In a world of diminishing mystery, the unknown persists.”
–Jhumpa Lahiri
Book No. 12 of 2018
I enjoyed this book a lot more than seems to make sense for me. It’s overall kind of a sad story, and things fall apart more than they come together, but something about Jhumpa Lahiri’s ability to craft expertly sympathetic characters made me want to stay immersed in their world.
This is one I’m glad I finally got around to.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
#150 Dee’s CRF Farewell
30 May 2018 // San Diego, California
One of the fun parts of being married to someone else who builds their career on helping people is that you meet all kinds of people through them.
I spent tonight hanging out and grabbing pho with Deanna’s coworkers one more time before she transfers to work at a new clinic, talking all things Italy and impersonating Carl from Up.
#151 PLCPC Block Party
31 May 2018 // San Diego, California
“Be a reflection of what you’d like to receive."
–Kristen Butler