Coffee Flavored Thoughts: August 2016

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling quite morose and lonely, and felt a deep and terrible ache of longing for things that could no longer be. I realized then, that the strange thing about devastating loss is that life, untouched by the acts of sheer folly, continues to go on, blissfully unaware of the fact that, in rumpled bed clothes and sleepless and bleary eyes, that sometimes you struggle to take it by the hand and run along with it. It continues to go on, seemingly unaware of the vicious claw marks you have left behind on scarlet memories of the past, and now lie looking in bewilderment at your cracked and bloody fingernails. It continues to go on, tiptoeing past you staring up at the three am sky, toes sinking into the dewy grass, and not realizing the cold seeping into your bones. It continues to slip by as you blow gently and distractedly into your too-hot cup of tea, whose steam and warm aroma floats about you like a close friend as your eyes stay fixated on the last few pages of your favorite book, rereading the last line over and over and willing the story not to end. It slithers right by you as you find yourself quietly humming a song, whose sweet melody springs up from deep within your soul. It continues, gracefully, to dance along with you, bringing with it hope and a promise of a new life.

Happy late birthday Paul! (And Nellie!)
For Pauls birthday we took a mini vacation and flew to Los Angeles. We didn't do anything spectacular, just mainly lounged on the beaches and worked on our tans. Or burns. Mostly burns. Either way it was good to spend some time with family. Hopping on another airplane really made my dream of travelling the world for a few years very fresh in my mind. Anyway, as usual I love to overload on pictures. Enjouy!

Coincidentally, I had spilled ice cream ALL OVER my pants, which this was my first time wearing them, of course.

The view outside our apartment.

An even better view.

My Maria Baria. [insert heart emoji here]

Paulacious and his penchant for owning the most fabulous attire.

Brunch at the Penthouse!

These (sword)fish tacos were the best I've had in my life. The black bean salad was almost just as good... Almost

I forgot to flip this image earlier and now I just don't feel like doing it anymore. Besides, I'm sure we could all stretch our necks for a bit here and there ;)

Unplanned matching with Benjamin. Oh, Hi Tatiana!

Taking photos of Masha taking photos of me. Photoception.

These flowers reminded me of Greece. They had red and purple flowers sprawling all over the houses there. This reminds me that I should probably post all of my pictures from Greece and Turkey.....................

Chasing the waves. We had the most glorious fun! I have not laughed so hard in a while as I did playing in the ocean.

Only after about the 70th picture were we able to capture a perfect, cheesy jumping picture.

The best couple I know.

Hey guys, let's all pretend to laugh at something and then conveniently forget what it was we were laughing about.

This sign brought back a flood of warm memories for just a fraction of a second. I figured I'd capture the moment.

The birthday boy. Paul has the most hilarious sense of humor! If you don't have him on Snapchat you should probably add him. I don't know what his username is, you'd have to go find out for yourself. Either way, he's a really funny dude.

Bikes on Venice Beach!!

Ugh I love them.

Chasing the sunset.

Venice Beach Canals in the day.

And the canals at night. It was gorgeous!

There was a huge 22k acre sand fire nearby and it made the most spectacular sunset. Funny how something so terrifying and destructive could be so beautiful.