i celebrated my birthday last saturday. well on friday with the fam and saturday with friends at a lounge in hollywood. things had its ups and downs but all in all a good time. feels good to share those moments with people that i care about.

i am trying to remind myself that its not by the number of people you get out to your events but the quality. a good group of people can make any situation great.

my friend shira is moving to newport beach and it was nice to spend the night there. i was reminded that i do secretly like orange county although i do tend to hate on it. why do we hate the things we also like? i guess i have a love/hate relationship with everything. and sometimes i feel that i have gotten so caughts up in LA that i don't want to leave.

after hanging out in newport with my friend, i decided to go to one of my fav places near my old alma mater, Panera Bread. There i was surrounded by OC beauty and happy friendly families and college students. Damn that brocolli cheddar soup! so good! after that, as i was driving home, i thought, what the heck, i miss the beach, and explored a new beach, Sunset Beach. the beach is one of my favorite past times of living in Orange County and i really don't go so much now.

* with it being summer and thinking of my love for the beach i can't help but feel a longing to be in hawaii. i also have this desire to go to new zealand. it's that island style livin and the people that really excite me. how can i feel like hawaii is my home when LA is?
its a little ironic that i will be leaving to live in seattle in a few months, the land of rain, which will be a hard weather adjustment for me. but i do believe they have another natural beauty.

i guess what i'm thinking is that different places are special in their own right. i think i've just been spoiled by living and exploring such beautiful and diverse places.

**keep on exploring the beauty in your local surroundings.