Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts

household shopping
Tuesday, November 20, 2007


Bought today for new apartment:
13" skillet
Spatula
Set of 4 champagne flutes
Single red wine glass (they only had one of the one I liked)
Wooden spoon (bamboo wood)
Sustainable bamboo wood cutting board (acutally bought it yesterday but wanted to mention that I am trying to buy ethically produced goods)
Cafe Paris teacup and two saucers to complete newly bought set of dishes
Mushroom brush and mushroom slicer

Posted byKarma at Tuesday, November 20, 2007 1 comments  

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wildfires
Sunday, October 21, 2007




This is my parent's front and back yard at 3pm today. There are crazy wildfires all over southern California - Malibu, Santa Rosa, Piru, Fillmore - the closest is around 20 miles away, unfortunately a few homes are threatened and a big castle burned in Malibu, but local web news says only brush has burned closer to us. Mom is all stressed out, and trying to find local news (it mostly talks of Malibu). I am just capturing the changing colours with my camera. I usually love the smell of bonfires, but there is so much ash falling and strong winds, it burns the eyes.
update: Monday 6pm:
14 Fires burning throughout Southern California now, state of emergency declared. This is really bad - 128+ homes have been burned and thousands of acres of brush. There are ashes everywhere - like when Mt. St Helens volcano went so many years ago. There are always fires this time of year but it hasn't been this bad in at least 10 years. And it is always worsened by the dry weather and high winds. One of the worst at foothill ranch has been set by arsonists.
why??????






Posted byKarma at Sunday, October 21, 2007 1 comments  

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back home?
Sunday, October 7, 2007

Tonight I watched the first 3 episodes of season 1 (new series) of Dr Who with my family. I knew my dad would love it. My awesome friend Kenneth turned me on to Dr Who (I am in California now Kenneth, so I get to use words like awesome).
I feel a bit like the character Rose in the first few episodes, sort of :

Where the hell am I?
But, hey, this is exciting, I love adventure!
Who knows what is around the corner? should I be worried?
No! I am not afraid! I am brave! Carpe diem!
But I am homesick! wait... I am home?!? wait... where am I?'

Posted byKarma at Sunday, October 07, 2007 1 comments  

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holiday or home
Thursday, March 29, 2007

First day in San Francisco. I drove straight to Golden Gate Park and walked around 'my' old haunt, the North Lake. I felt so alive, energised. I wondered if I would be similarly inspired by the sea, and was a bit disappointed, but proud to admit that my hometown Ventura has one of the best beaches (sand, surf, views, not thronged by tourists, don't need to be a movie star to afford to lie on them) in the world.

Walked through Lindley Meadow among the groves of Eucalyptus, Fir and Pine, then sat for a while with my back against a Red Cedar, contemplating my future. What should I do? Should I move back? Could I do it? It scares me, the change. I sought refuge in the tiny health food shops along Fillmore street, looking at the lotions, the aromatherapy oils, all so familiar now, and yet different. I started writing down the names of 'our competitors', wanting to return to NYR and say, 'send me back to SF now, I will find our new store and set it up for you.'

My two friends here are from my past, the world of western medicine, drugs for everything, doctors. One has gone the traditional job, marriage, kids route. The other I see tomorrow - still very much a city girl, I believe. Where would I fit? My friend's father reminded me of it yesterday 'You have a variety of accents'. I want to speak with my own voice, and I think I am finding it, albeit slowly.

I wish I knew where I would be in a year. But for now, I will try to remind myself that I am on holiday, and here to have fun!

Posted byKarma at Thursday, March 29, 2007 0 comments  

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arg nit state of mind
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Going home to California tomorrow. I still call it 'home' although I have lived in the UK for nearly 8 years now. I wonder if it will still feel like 'home'? I haven't been there since 2004, and lots of things have changed since then.

I was just looking over my old blogs, and saw a post from October of last year, the 7 year anniversary of my coming to the UK to live. I reasoned then that I would probably rather live in California, and at that time I felt eager to move back. So many things have changed since then, and I am happy to be learning about myself, building friendships here, sometimes struggling but also having fun and dancing!

I have booked to go to my first dance camp in Montpellier, by myself (!) in May, and I may go to Sweden and Prague in the summer as well. I am partly compelled by this 'if I am moving back, I must see all of the places in Europe I wanted to see', isn't this is a great way to live? To make the most of where I am now...

Posted byKarma at Wednesday, March 21, 2007 2 comments  

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an auspicious day
Tuesday, October 17, 2006

As of today, I have been in the UK for 7 years. Strange, I would never have guessed I would be living here this long. I am still very undecided about this place. When I first arrived, I was shocked at the difference in the standard of living between here and the US. There are many things that I miss:

  • My lovely friends in the US
  • Taquerias for fantastic, healthy, cheap take-away
  • Jamba Juice, or other smoothie places
  • Cafes that are open late and NOT Starbucks
  • The beach and the sea on my doorstep
  • The sun - although global warming has favoured south east England’s climate this summer and autumn
  • The openness and friendliness and easiness of making new friends in California
  • Cheap gas (this has changed), cheap rent (this also)
But then there are things that I only first experienced here in the UK:
  • Warm days in the summer with lush greenness everywhere
  • Letting go of the need to identify myself with an ‘ache/pain’ or a daily ‘drama’ and just being present in the moment
  • Not feeling that I need to be beautiful or look put together all the time (still working on this)
  • News media that is much more free speech than in the US (although I hardly follow news, it is still mostly alarmist and depressing here)
  • Meeting people who are really into issues such as organics and sustainability, although I work in a different industry than I did in the US
  • Actually, perhaps these things were always present around me in the US and I wasn’t ready/able to notice them before?
Things I worry about returning, and/or don’t want to be influenced by:
  • Obsession with money and identification by what car you drive, what your career is, your house, etc (my american friends weren’t like this, but the general overall energy affected me and I would obsess on wanting more ‘stuff’ - I still ‘daydream/shop’ but much, much less)
  • George W Bush - why do I hate him so? I dont know him personally, but he has done so many hurtful, careless, selfish things and so many have suffered/died because of his administration
  • I worry I will be drawn into my parents ‘script’ if I live closer to them, yet in so many ways I love and understand them and celebrate who they choose to be without trying to fix them (tho sometimes I cant help but try to suggest my ideas)
  • What if I cant find a job and suffer financially? Although this has never been a problem. I just want the same job or similar to what I do now, but for a slightly better standard of living (one more bedroom, and a cat or two
  • I think if I really look at what I’ve written, it seems that I would rather live in the US. There is a chance of possibly moving with my company, but the date is uncertain, possibly the next year or two. I guess it would be better to come post Bush anyway...

Posted byKarma at Tuesday, October 17, 2006 1 comments  

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missing california
Saturday, October 29, 2005

I went to a mexican restaurant for a friend's birthday tonight. The food was ok, not like Cali-Mex (the chips looked scary and the guacamole was brown but tasted ok) but it was so smoky in the restaurant I felt a bit ill by the end! Miss the whole 'non smoking restaurant' thing. Hope it happens soon here, but can't imagine it very soon. Would rather have been poking the giant whoopie cushion at D's Halloween party!

Posted byKarma at Saturday, October 29, 2005 2 comments  

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