Ola Tijuana

I will be getting up at sparrow's fart tomorrow and meandering down the Interstate-5 with four friends and a smiling face. Our final destination will be Tijuana, Mexico where a team of around 160 of us will be on a missions trip for a week, sharing the gospel, loving people, seeing the multitudes saved, healed and delivered. My heart thumps at the thought of a passion fulfilled. 
Before we cross the border on tuesday afternoon, we'll be spending the night in a Malibu mansion and while I walk around with my jaw on the floor, I will simultaneously be crossing another item off my bucket list. Living in the lap of luxury, if only for a night, won't be so bad. 
I am also secretly looking forward to not having my iPhone glued to my palm and to not be habitually refreshing my social networking feeds with every blink of my eyes. I think a forced internet sabbatical will do me a world of good. 
Adios.

{Preliminary phases of the packing procedure} 

West Coast Wandering

For my very first American Thanksgiving, I went on a road trip along the I-5 from Redding to San Diego armed with trail mix, Starbucks and good company.
It has been a dream of mine for ages to wander along the Southern California coastline, so I was in awe with my surroundings when we finally reached the palm-tree plentiful coast. 
During my stay in San Diego, I had an authentic thanksgiving meal with a fun and very charismatic family, and ate myself into food coma. Success. 
I got involved in the Black Friday action and went shopping at Fashion Valley which quickly made it onto my list of favorite shopping destinations. I also saw the beautiful ocean for the first time in 3 months and it felt just like seeing an old friend. While living in the country has it's benefits, I am still a beach baby at heart. You can take me away from the beach but you can't take the beach out of me. 
Then there was roadside cafe dining, boutique store browsing on Coronado island and quality time with friends. Thank you Orange County for showing me a good time and I hope to see you again very shortly. Stay classy San Diego. 

Cali Road Trip #1

My 10 hour San Francisco experience in pictures