Dunno where to put this… it doesn’t always feel like any of these are significant things, so never really think it needs to be written down, but here are just some small things that has been going on in our regular lives

– Since Nov 2025, Francey’s line dancing class at Fitness 19 moved from Newbury Park to Camarillo! We’ve been using our lifetime gym memberships well: Yogalaties on Wed, Line Dancing on Thur, Zumba/Boot Camp on Fridays, and Zumba on Sundays. Anson also looks forward to his workouts with Gary (guests are free F, Sa & Sun), and I love the new revamped relaxation room with 3 zero gravity massage chairs and 2 compression boot chairs.

– For work, still able to be remote and working around ~20hrs/week. We’re figuring out the new Payment Assistant function on FENXT which will definitely help pay our vendors, and a 3rd party will be cutting/signing/mailing out the checks!

– My new favorite shiny thing is Chase’s promo with Instacart. Business cards get a $20/month credit and cobranded Chase cards get a $10/month credit. Even though there is a $3.99 pickup per order, it is still a good deal on produce that isn’t marked up from Sprouts. Currently, we have 3 business cards and 6 cobranded cards. Will be able to do this deal thru the end of 2027

– Regarding free media, since I have Instacart+ due to the deal above, I’ll have access to Peacock till April 2028. I used to pay for YouTube premium lite ($7.99/month using my Google opinion rewards credits), but even after cancelling, I haven’t had ads on my account (?) Not complaining 🙂 AMEX is also giving me 3 months of AMC+ and 3 months of Paramount+ for free. Should also watch the series I bought on Apple years ago, and get new releases from the library…endless possibilities…

– Since we did so many trips (Hawaii, Bay Area, dogsitting, and Denmark), I am banned from big ones for the rest of the year (the 2nd time dogsitting in August is more of an obligation/way to love on Anson’s parents). Hehe, our next trip is already booked starting Jan 2, 2027 for an 8 day Carnival cruise to Mexico…looking forward to lobster tail & prime rib formal night and researching spa treatments, camel ride, dolphin & sea lion petting, and an outdoor adventure excursion (last one is not my idea!)

– To compensate for “not traveling”, I’m making us do some fun activities/concerts/musicals throughout the year (Mrs Doubtfire tomorrow in TO, Kpop Demon Hunters (only $1 (+$1 fee) tickets for family friendly movies during the summer) at Regal, Ventura IHG stay for mini golf/dinner with Brian/Lauren, Cow Appreciation day (dress up as a cow at Chick Fil A for a free entree), see parents and stay over in LA for Walk off the Earth in July, Anaheim Hyatt stay for Phil Wickham/hang with Cindy/Tracy and sleepover/see Cindy’s new place in October, Hunchback of Notre Dame at Conejo Players Theater in November, and multiple “obligatory” visits to see family (I’m thinking of staying a few nights maybe once a quarter at my parents’ guesthouse to better love on them/have some time to myself/eat yummy food…actually pretty excited to do this…first time will be at the end of June 🙂

In Feb, we went to Hawaii, in March, the Bay Area for a wedding, in April, dogsitting in the Valley for 10 days, and now in May, Copenhagen! When I first booked this flight over 7 months ago, didn’t know about wedding and dogsitting, and wanted to travel before the husband’s passport expires in Jan 2027 (can’t fly 6 months before expiration)…so not my fault in making us busy! 

I was able to get tickets for $510 nonstop roundtrip. I always try to get nonstop since layovers just make traveling more unpredictable and more of a hassle. This time though, Anson wanted us to get extra legroom seats, so that was an extra $79 per person per flight. Total was $668 x 2 = $1336. I used points to credit the charge, though I probably could have redeemed the points in a better way. Oh well, it’s a little overwhelming researching the best way to maximize points …someday, one of my bucket list items is to fly business/first class using points…but in the meantime, this SAS extra legroom flight ain’t too shabby!

Sunday, 5/10/26

This morning was dedicated to packing and making sure that the house was in order before we left for church. I first thought we were going to stream the service, but I’m glad we made it a priority to go. We talked to Brian and Angela after service before heading to Anson’s parents’ place for lunch. We bought Anson’s mom a pot with flowers for Mother’s Day. We had egg drop soup, BBQ chicken, fish, lasagna, and fried rice for lunch. She drove us to the Flyaway around 3:40 and we were on the 4 o’clock bus. I totally recommend using the Flyaway. Cost was $12.75 and you purchase your ticket on the bus. It took about 50 mins to 1 hr to get to LAX. The bus was air conditioned and had free WiFi. There weren’t too many people so we were able to each have our own row. 

We got to the airport at 5pm, and since I had already checked in online, headed straight to security at the Tom Bradley international terminal. We were able to go thru the TSA Precheck line, and had an hour to explore the airport before boarding. The terminals are connected by a walkway. On the plane, we got to our seats 30G and 30H which were the extra legroom seats right behind premium economy. I liked that we could have 2 seats just to ourselves and that we could actually put our bags underneath the seats. Each seat comes with a blanket and pillow, and after takeoff, we were given headphones (forgot my corded ones), a choice of drink (ginger beer), and dinner (warm bread, side salad, beef cheek and goulash, and a mousse chocolate cake). 

Maybe I’m easily pleased or maybe I’m just used to flights with the bare minimum of service (coughzipaircough), but this has been a great experience. Happy with the meal, warm in my blanket, and the provided headphones and so many movies to choose from (getting into Juror #2 with Nicholas Hoult). I don’t see much of a difference between our seats and the premium economy seats which are most likely $600 extra, so the $79 extra legroom upgrade has been well worth it (typing while on the plane…gotta get ahead of blogging for this trip!). 

Monday, 5/11/26

Good morning from the plane…though I think I got less than an hour of sleep …never was good at resting on a plane (someday…lie flat seats!) I was able to watch one movie called Juror #2 with Nicholas Hoult and they served breakfast sandwiches and orange juice 2 hours before landing. Being a little bleary eyed, getting to our Airbnb had some mishaps. We got into the wrong line at customs and also took the wrong transportation line (metro instead of train). We eventually found our way to Vesterbro (in the rain) where we were met by Samantha, our Airbnb host. She gave us a small walk through of the apartment that will be our home for the next 9 days. The place has it pros (whole place to ourselves, fridge, can cook some meals, semi central to supermarkets & metro/train) and cons (not as close to central Copenhagen, a little dirty, weird shower). After a short nap, we explored our neighborhood, had dinner at Doner Corner (interesting how Mediterranean is a common fast food item here), and got groceries at Super Brugsen. I found out that I didn’t pack enough to wear and that I should have packed my big jacket. I’ll probably borrow one of the host’s jackets in order to not freeze. 

Tuesday, 5/12/26

I’ve been up since 3am…love jetlag! Had some cucumbers, tomatoes, gouda cheese, and oranges for breakfast. Went out to Netto to get some more groceries that would make me happier on this trip (instant coffee, blue cheese, olives, tomato juice, etc). As it goes, the bad weather loves traveling with us, so I’ve been checking the weather constantly to see what activities make sense. I canceled the Malmo museum on Thursday so that we don’t have to be beholden to going on that day, and also don’t want to activate my 5 day Copenhagen card yet. 

Today is just a day to explore, and the place that everyone goes to is Nyhavn (think “see down” when pronouncing the word). Nyhavn is the picturesque colorful looking row of houses that Copenhagen is known for. Eating there is a rip off, so we went to Broens Street Food instead (still pricey, but I guess that’s Copenhagen). Hubby had a chicken noodle salad bowl and I had a fish fillet with rice & butter chicken sauce. Both dishes cost ~$21 each! I don’t think this city is known for food (besides open face sandwiches, and come on, that’s not a decent meal, that’s a grade school knapsack lunch and they can’t even afford the convenience to close the sandwich). After lunch, we explored Freetown Christiania: an intentional community, anarchist commune and former army barracks in the Christianshavn neighborhood. The place is car-less and very eclectic with lots of graffiti art on the walls. 

We walked 8.5 miles (ahh!), so we took a 2 hr nap at the Airbnb before going out to Super Brugsen again for more groceries (milk, yogurt, salmon, orange juice, chips). We cooked dinner at home (Anson made rice and eggs and I made  chicken, gyros, and a salad). Packed some of the food for our lunch tomorrow as it’ll be a packed indoor sightseeing day 🙂

Wednesday, 5/13/26

It was scheduled for rain all day today, so I switched plans and ended up starting my 5 day Copenhagen Card today. We started off by visiting Ripley’s Believe It or Not. We saw a life-sized wax figure of Rober Wadlow, who was the tallest man in the world at 8’11. We then went next door to the Hans Christian Andersen museum where it told the life story of the author and it had multi language tracks of the different stories like “Little Match Girl” and “Thumbelina”. We then walked over to the Museum of Illusions where I believe the husband enjoyed the creative and interactive installations. Their gift shop felt like an extension of the museum with all the puzzle games.

We were pretty hungry at this point, so I just bought an overpriced Caffe Latte at Starbucks to “rent” the space to eat our lunch or rice, chicken/gyros, and veggies. We then headed to the Guinness World Records Museum which also seemed like an extension of Ripley’s. Anson did 24 pull ups in 1 minute (the world record is 74). We then did the Stromma Canal Tour at 4pm. The boat wasn’t covered, so we were pretty much freezing during the 1 hr boat tour. We were tired and then headed back home. The first thing I did was take a shower, as my hands were numb from the cold. We had dinner at 8pm, and then I crashed and went to bed. Jetlag is killing me…

Thursday, 5/14/26

I think I woke up at 1am and didn’t fall back asleep til 5am. Woke up again around 8:30am and didn’t leave the house till 10:30am, but I think that I’m trying to be more forgiving on when we start. It’s not like we HAVE to be there at a certain time, and we always see a lot regardless. Today was a day trip to Helsingor. There were a lot more people out on the streets as today is a holiday (Ascension Day). Most tourist attractions and restaurants are open, but the big grocery stores are closed. 

We got to the train station at 11 and halfway thru our journey, due to the train being behind schedule, there was an announcement that the train will stop making other stops and go straight to Helsingor (bad for others but a plus for us!) We got to Kronborg Castle in time for the 12:30 free 15 min talk with a little history behind the castle and why it is known as the backdrop for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. We explored the cathedral, catacombs, 1st floor where many parties loved taking place, and 2nd floor accommodations for King Frederick II and Queen Sophia. He was 38 and she was 15 when married, and they actually married for love rather than an arranged marriage. 

After walking the grounds of the castle, we had Mediterranean at Elsinore Street Food (ehh…2 out of 5 stars), then spent a short time at the local Oresund Aquarium in time for their 4pm feeding. The most interesting fish I saw there was the Lemon Sole, a flat fish that can camouflage with it’s surroundings and has both eyes on top, and the Harharvve, also kind of a flat fish that looks more like a half mound rock once he’s on top of a surface. We then headed back home, but not before stopping at a small business grocery store to get vinegar for cleaning, coconut water for my parched lips, and oil for cooking. Made our customary salad, Anson slightly made the basmati rice better, and had leftover salmon for dinner. Need more groceries (at the bigger stores) tomorrow!

Friday, 5/15/26

Only woke up at 6am today. Progress! It helped that I worked 2.5 hrs last night instead of sleeping so early (though I did have a nap on the train and also an hour right before dinner). Letting Anson get his beauty sleep while I blog and try to sort out our schedule despite the rain tomorrow. Today though…lovely, sunny 56 degree weather 🙂 We left out Airbnb around 10:45am and took the 11:12am A train to Sorgenfri to spend the day at The Open Air Museum. The hubby had a ball at this place! We spent 4 hours here, saw the old Danish houses from different locations and eras, learned how to walk on stilts, ate our packed lunch at the picnic tables, did manual go kart racing, etc). I didn’t know that we’d be here till 4pm closing time, but I’m glad the husband enjoyed himself. My feet hurt 🙂

We got back to Copenhagen around 4:40pm and went for another supermarket run and to grab a quick dinner at Comé Rice Kitchen. We got 2 rice croquettes, 2 teriyaki chicken onigiris, 1 shrimp onigiri, and 1 salmon mayo onigiri. Food in Copenhagen is pretty expensive and that was already $25… we’re definitely not here for the food (though I’ll probably come back to this place since I liked it). After a 3 hr nap (hehe), we made our way to Tivoli Gardens. Good thing we didn’t get here earlier than 10pm since that was when they closed all the rides since it was a concert night with a Danish musician. I would have been out $30 if I bought a rides pass. It wasn’t as grand as I thought it would be (Great America had better lights), but it was nice to walk around the premises and watch the Illuminations light show.

Saturday, 5/16/26

We had a late start since we are kinda failing in the war with jet lag (I LOVE my naps!) I’m usually reluctantly awake early morning while the husband is still sleeping for ~3hrs later. I went to Netto to get some more groceries (food just makes me happy and restaurants here are not worth it). Got caught in the rain, and that is kind of a prelude to how this day went 🙂

I had to nix our day trip to Roskilde because of the weather this trip. Instead, I planned for some places in city central. I like the Copenhagen card since it covers so many activities, and I probably wouldn’t have wanted to visit if I didn’t have the card (that’s a blessing and a curse though). I’ll just list all the places we went to today: Ikono, Botanical Gardens, The Palm House, Butterfly House, tried/failed for Rosenborg Castle, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Pho Hanoi, and the Planetarium.

Ikono was a 99 cents store version of Borderless. Some rooms weren’t accessible and was just poorly designed/felt cheap. The Palm House was a little hot since it mimics a tropical climate, I like the butterflies especially this gigantic vibrant blue one, being that it was Saturday, should have known there would have been a lot of people, so couldn’t get into Rosenborg Castle, ended up going to the Natural History Museum since it started raining heavily…too bad we don’t enjoy museums. Had lunch at Pho Hanoi (made us miss Love Pho N Mor), and ended at the Planetarium for a 20 min talk (in Danish) and 30 video in the huge dome…I had a nice nap 🙂 Today was a little bit of a letdown cuz of the rain. Something we can’t really control…glad the weather for the rest of our stay will be the best of this trip!

Sunday, 5/17/26

We took it easy this morning and didn’t leave until our 1pm service at Elijah’s Church. I wanted to come here partially cuz it was close, also the service was actually in English, and that they emphasized that it was a jazz service. The pianist, vocalist, and trumpet player were amazingly talented. We took Communion by going up to the front and kneeling…and they actually served wine instead of our customary grape juice. I felt that the sermon was a little weak and didn’t really emphasize the gospel message, and it felt more of like a performance with all the music, but it was still enjoyable one time. 

We then made our way to Church of Our Savior, which I had the foresight to reserve tickets to the tower after the Rosenborg incident yesterday. The church was closed, but we were able to go up to the top of the windy spire. The construction of it seems like it was made of quality sturdy material. After that, we saw the ruins of Christiansborg before another grocery run, long nap, and late dinner at the Airbnb.

Monday, 5/18/26

Today was our day trip to Malmo. I had previously scheduled this for last Thursday, but changed plans because of the rain. Today…perfect weather! I packed a lunch for the hubby, and we took the DSB train to Malmo. Took about 40 mins. A person came around to check our tickets (one person was escorted off the train since he didn’t have one). My first impressions of Malmo was that it was a lot cleaner and less busy than Copenhagen. It probably also was cuz it was a Monday, but the airport is also so much closer to Copenhagen, so it was probably both. Our first stop was the Disgusting Food Museum, where they had plastic models of different foods and ended with a food tasting. Some examples of foods were Vegemite, spam, Twinkies, soft cheeses, bull penis, and different food scandals like the milk powder from China. I was pretty proud of the husband in trying almost all of the tasting. They gave us various insects, century egg, durian, and ended with hot sauces that got subsequently hotter. The workers there made the tastings fun and full of laughter. Overall, I think this was my favorite museum 🙂

We then headed over to the Malmo Foodhall, and I think this foodhall was much better than the one in Helsingor. It had less people and was upkept better. I ordered Swedish meatballs (when in Sweden!) which came with some yummy mashed potatoes and had chocolate ice cream in a cone for dessert. Later, we explored the Castle Mill, Slottsparken, and Pildammsparken before heading back to Denmark on the train.

Tuesday, 5/19/26

I had originally penciled this day in as biking to Drago, but I’m glad we didn’t…bike culture is serious here and I don’t think I’d be able to keep it up especially since it would have been 16 miles round trip. Instead, we had a late start so that I could buy the 24 hr transportation pass around noon and took the subway to Assistens Cemetery (very serene and beautiful). Next, we walked thru another local park to use the public bathroom, but stumbled upon goats and bunnies that you could just pet there! It’s cool how these parks are all free. 

We then walked over to once of the most well-known (and according to the internet, the most disappointing) attraction: the statue of The Little Mermaid. I mean…it’s a statue on the water, not sure what people expect. Close to the statue was Kastellet, a historic fortress that was shaped like a star that is still being used. We were able to witness the changing of the guard at 4pm (much more low key than the one if we went to at Amalienborg Palace). We took the subway back home, rested, then had our last meal (which was our first of this trip too) at a fast food doner restaurant.

Wednesday, 5/20/26

We’re going home! Today was just a travel day, so the morning was mostly filled with cleaning and packing up our bags. We left the Airbnb at 11am and took the metro to Copenhagen Airport. Transportation here is top-notch. It was very easy to get to places. Metro usually comes every 4 mins and the trains were every 10 mins.

Once we got to the airport, of course I had to checkout the airport lounge! The Capital One Venture X card doesn’t allow guests for Priority Pass anymore (skimpflation!), so I went by myself while Anson walked around. I went to the Aspire Lounge and it was pretty busy, but I was able to snag a table. The lounge had gotten an upgrade, and the food was much better than the pictures on Google. I had eggs, some sort of fish sashimi , roast beef, cold cuts, and various cheeses. For drinks, I had a caffe latte, orange juice, and half a glass of Merlot. Anson thinks it’s weird that I like the lounges more than many things on the trip, but what can I say…I like free food/drinks and I like to lounge 🙂

Our flight took off at 2pm. I watched The Bucket List and rewatched The Devil Wears Prada. We got extra legroom seats right behind the Premium Economy seats. I think this is gonna be our norm for traveling on long flights now. The food wasn’t the best (weird pizza pocket for the 2nd meal), but I was already pretty full from the lounge. We touched down at 4:20pm local time and customs was an absolute breeze with the new camera technology (Anson of course didn’t want to go thru it), but it makes me wonder how people declare anything they bought. We took the flyaway to Van Nuys and Auntie Esther mom picked us up and dropped us off at our car at Aaron’s place along with a whole bunch of cooked food and groceries that I would normally buy from Costco for the week. She is always very loving and I appreciate not having to cook and saving me a trip to get food. 

Overall, this trip was…okay. I don’t think I packed enough warm clothes, it rained 3 of our days, eating out is expensive, and we don’t totally enjoy museums. We did like the Open Air Museum and I liked my onigiri restaurant close to the Airbnb (lol!) I’m glad we went on this trip even if it was more for the check mark than enjoyment. $1360.46 flights + $456.68 Copenhagen card + $1647.04 Airbnb + $646.40 CC expenses – $1360.46 in UR points to CXL out flight cost = $2,750.12

Happy 14th anniversary! Yay! We’re moving in to master bedroom!

Just today, you were the pool boy and made sure the hot tub was maintained so that I could enjoy soaking in it tonight.

You make us exercise so that we will have a long health span rather than life span. It’s actually changed my mindset and I (mostly) look forward to my Pilates/Zumba/line dancing/boot camp classes.

Even though I’d rather eat whatever I want, I know you not wanting to promote that is because you don’t wanna feed me poison, and that, to you, is more loving

You keep our home clean, take out the trash so that the monsters in the trash can won’t kidnap me, you’re the project manager for repairs/improvements for our house and parents’ condo, repairman that fixed the sink this week, aligned and drilled holes for the cabinets.

You are my concert and travel/adventure partner…like it or not, cuz I can’t do it alone! I’ve known you since I was 14, 7 years to finally end the will they won’t they friendship, 5 years of dating (mostly long distance), and now, married for 14 years. Time flies, and hope the next 14+14+14+14 years, we can grow more to be who God wants/needs us to be for Him.

We were invited to Joanne and Garrett’s wedding, so we were able to come up to the Bay Area for a long weekend and visit coworkers, family, and friends. We drove up on Thursday, stopped at Pokirito at San Luis Obispo for lunch, got to the Bay Area around 5pm, dropped off Anson so that he could run with his former coworker, Frank, while I checked into Hotel Avante, our home for the next 5 nights. I combined the $300 travel credit from Capital One for 2 nights, a Chase Travel promotion (spend $600, get $100, so spent $500 for what I would have already needed to spend for our upcoming Denmark trip and got $100 to pay for another night for this trip), and then 2 free nights with the Hyatt credit card. Power was out in the neighborhood, but turned back on a couple hours later. I met Anson at Mediterranean Grill House for dinner and we walked around Castro Street.

On Friday, we walked to the local Safeway to get some groceries for our trip and I got a free Big Kahuna sub from Jersey Mike’s using bday points for lunch. We chilled at the hotel, then got ready to go to the reception at RBF. Joanne and Garrett know many people, so we felt privileged to be invited. We talked to many church friends, and then headed over to the reception at Grand Dynasty (Chinese banquet food). A highlight of the evening was Joanne and her dad, Paul, serenading us since they didn’t wanna dance. I liked that our table numbers doubled as # cards that Garrett and Joanne will read aloud at each anniversary year.

On Saturday, we did our annual Mission Peak hike. There were some detours and I also wanted to try the less steep way to go down the peak, and it ended up making the hike 8.69 miles. We had lunch at Chicken Meets Rice ($16 entrees…still hungry). Then chilled at the hotel before heading to San Mateo to bring dinner to Aunt Helena and Uncle Tim. We try to make it a priority to see Anson’s uncles and aunts since they are older and have their share of health problems.

On Sunday, we lost an hour of sleep cuz of Daylight Saving, but still got to church only a few mins late 😛 RBF has grown even more and even has a safety team. We talked to a lot of people (Jacob and Cindy, Jenn Tsau, Steph and Jon, Randy and Eva, Samantha and hubby, Courtney, Grace and Fred, Karisa and Jon, Jennifer To). We had take out Chef Chu’s for lunch with Uncle Kenway, Aunt Susan, and Aunt Irene. We met Tracy at Rengstorff Park and talked for 3 hours. Dinner was another free sub from Jersey Mike’s and Anson had a packed dinner of rice and burger patties that I brought from home.

On Monday, Anson dropped me off at H Mart so that I could buy different drinks for my hangouts today. I met up with my accounting team at California Fish Grill for lunch. We went back to the office, worked for an hour, and then had our biweekly accounting meeting. I feel like it was a little awkward since I didn’t always know what to talk to people about. If I ever were to leave this job, I don’t think I would keep in touch. But I know that being here is a good use of my limited finance skills, so I will work hard to be a good teammate to finish our job duties. I then ubered to Char’s where she gave me a tour of their newly renovated house. It definitely looks awesome and will probably be their forever home. It was nice to talk to her and catch up. She is one of my peoples who genuinely want to hang out despite our busy schedules. We only made plans when we met up at the wedding, but we both had time (and I wanted to play hooky from work 🙂 Later, I ubered to the Leongs’ house and I had takeout Chinese food with Kevin, Emily, Albert, Ruth, Paul, and Sharon. Anson had his own time today by having lunch with Pure Storage (now called Everpure….elgh) coworkers and dinner with his former Applied Signal coworker, Lisa. He came later to pick me up.

On Tuesday, we just packed and headed back home. We first stopped by one of the San Jose Costcos to get gas, groceries, and stock up on organic brown rice. Also got Costco salads for our lunch which we had when we stopped at the Atascadero Library. Overall, I did like this trip. It was good to celebrate a wedding, complete our annual Mission Peak hike, and catch up with friends, family, and coworkers. At some point, these relationships may fade…I’m just glad that I still have them in the present.

Tuesday 2/10
Ubered after dinner to Holiday Inn LAX for $69 (best price I saw…most of the day, it was between $83 to +$100). Tipped $15. Picked this hotel since it had a free shuttle and also didn’t need breakfast as the airline would provide. Glad we didn’t drive since parking fees at LAX hotels are horrendous.

Wednesday 2/11
Woke up at 5:30am, got on shuttle at 6:25am, got off on Terminal 6 and done with security by 6:45am! So surprised that it was so quick and had an hour before boarding time. Seats 39g and 39h, I had packed cheese, fruits, veggies, and container for breakfast for hubby and I ate 2 turkey sausage breakfast sandwiches and spicy tomato juice, flight was 5 hr 15 mins and arrived local time 12:30pm. Explored the Honolulu airport and relaxed at their cultural gardens. I visited the IASS lounge (no food or snacks and drinks could not be taken outside the lounge…2 out of 5 stars). Had some guava juice and lemon iced tea and was out in 7 mins.

Funny that our first meal in Hawaii was L&L. Had BBQ chicken plates and spam musubi $35, Ubered to Residence Inn in Kapolei $29 + $6 tip, arrived 3:15pm, got complimentary upgrade to a suite (had separate living room and kitchen!), took a much needed nap, then explored the fitness center, walked to Foodland for groceries $34 and discounted musubis, L&L (again?) $17, and brought back to hotel for dinner. Took a much needed shower (weird partition since water gets on the floor) and last midnight walk before sleeping. Writing this at 5am next day since can’t sleep. Need to try since doing the adventure course today!

Thursday 2/12
Yesterday, was up early (today too!). Had breakfast at the hotel (standard Continental food…miss breakfasts in Asia). Anson ran to Target to buy gloves while I checked out Foodland poke to get at lunchtime. Walked 1 mile to Coral Crater Adventure Park $59 and did the adventure tower at 11am. We had 2 other people in our party and our guide was named Stephen (tipped $10). I was able to complete part of the course and liked the freefall belay at the end. It only took an hour which is less than other ones we’ve done Dallas/Buelton, so it’s nice that we got this on the Go City pass, but would be disappointed if had to pay retail price.

For lunch, walked to Foodland and got two poke bowls (one premium wasabi salmon and one regular Hawaiian ahi tuna) $19 while Anson got L&L $17 again. The fish was pretty good, and next time, I should just buy the fish by pound. This L&L doesn’t seem to give as much chicken. Went back to the hotel, Anson was able to troubleshoot and fix my phone that couldn’t send/receive MMS messages, watched the movie Happy Death Day, then swam in the “heated” pool (only went down to a depth of 4.5 feet). Used Uber eats for takeout at Ramen Bones $32. Got Anson chicken fried rice while I got tonkatsu ramen (haven’t had ramen in years!) Might switch up the schedule tomorrow and do all the things at Pearl Harbor…

Friday 2/13
Today has been dedicated to all things Pearl Harbor. We ate breakfast at the hotel, packed some eggs and croissant sandwiches + our veggies from Foodland for lunch, then Ubered with Hema (she had some good suggestions as she used to be a tour guide) for $27 + $9 tip to Pearl Harbor. The first few times we came here, I didn’t even know there was the Ford Island and that it had all these museums to explore! Used the Go City pass for three different museums here that it almost covers our pass already. We first took the shuttle to the Battleship Missouri $40 and was able to go in and see the quarters, food hall, bakery, post office, etc all on the ship. Then, went to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum $30 and saw a whole lot of different older fighter planes. We were able to go into a cockpit and also saw a demo of what happened on Dec 7th that made the Japanese attack so deadly for the ships and planes. Lastly, we shuttled to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum $26 and we were able to go inside and explore just like the battleship. It felt a little more cramped and everything is so…made of steel…wanna make sure people would survive the water pressure.

We were pretty pooped once we were done around 4pm, so we Ubered (kind of a bad time with rush hour traffic) $49 + $9 tip, had a good conversation with George on the trip, and checked into the Holiday Inn Express in Waikiki for the next 6 nights. Have to pay for the first 2 nights $530 since didn’t get my free nights in time with the IHG CC and it’s Valentine’s weekend, but was able to get the 4 next nights for free (well…plus resort fee). We then went to the Waikiki beach to get dinner at Steak Shack $28 (too well done) and watch the fireworks at 7:45pm and didn’t anticipate how many people would be in line for that restaurant. Took about 45mins to 1 hr to get the food, but I guess we were already waiting for the fireworks and liked the guitar performer a lot (tipped $10) so I was glad we did this. I think Waikiki has suffered from the Disneyland effect, and there’s too many people and makes the experience less enjoyable. We then bought some groceries at Waikiki Market $31 for just some veggies, oranges, and chips …so overpriced here. We’ll try to explore and find a supermarket that has better prices tomorrow!

Saturday 2/14
Today is more of a rest day since yesterday was pretty packed. Had breakfast at our hotel at around 9:10 (dining hall closes at 9:30). I was pleasantly surprised that they had stir fry vegetables and mixed greens. It reminded me of the elaborate breakfasts that Japan hotels have, so maybe they’re trying to cater to the many Asian tourists. We checked out the hotel facilities and played a round of mini golf and worked out at the fitness center. We started exploring the north side of Waikiki and shared a poke bowl from Komedokoro $23 and strolled over to Ala Moana Regional Park so that Anson could use the calisthenics equipment to work out his arms, stopped by Foodland to get some more groceries $28 including my favorite buy: 4 kinds of sliced cheese!

After resting at the hotel, we walked over to watch the Kuhio Beach hula show. It’s held every Tues and Sat from 6:30-7:30. Marugame Udon was too packed, so ended up going to King of Thai Boat Noodles (was on my saved list) $51. We then took a romantic stroll along the Ala Wai Canal and surprisingly caught the 9pm drone show along the canal. I always thought it was all just AI, so it was great to see that this is real and so cool. Great way to end Valentine’s day!

Sunday 2/15
Breakfast at the hotel (very busy at 8:50am), rested and checked in for rental car we’ll get tomorrow, then walked over to Waikiki Baptist Church for service at 10:45am. The local congregation was most older and probably the majority of people were visitors. Pastor Joel preached on accountability and people were very welcoming. We talked to 3 of their different pastors including one who originally was from NY and led worship on guitar and has his own YouTube channel. Pastor Joel also prayed for us and our trip and my elder parents.

We then rested at the hotel, Anson worked out at the fitness center while I enjoyed taking a dip in the jacuzzi. We had a late lunch/early dinner at my favorite place, Marugame Udon $29 (previously called Marukame Udon till 11/2023). I enjoyed my beef udon while Anson had a gyudon rice bowl. The last time we were here, Anson still could eat wheat, so he didn’t enjoy as much…but this is still my favorite restaurant in Waikiki 🙂 We then walked to Kapiʻolani Regional Park and did an hour yoga class $19+$1.50 mat rental. I surprisingly liked this as I’ve never worked out on the beach at sunset. We had a romantic walk along Waikiki beach when it started raining (at least we packed an umbrella). Gonna try to sleep early as tomorrow will be a long day…

Monday, 2/16
This morning was a little stressful. After breakfast, we walked over to Hilton Hawaiian Village to get our Enterprise rental car for the next 2 days. It was a little confusing trying to find the office, get the car, get out of the Hilton parking structure, and navigate out of Waikiki. I probably shouldn’t have put so much pressure to want to get to places at a certain time. We’re on vacation! Plus, Sea Life Park is actually kinda small and you don’t have to be there the whole day to see everything. The highlight there was the Dolphin Show. We were able to go into a bird enclosure to feed birdseed on popsicle sticks to lovebirds. We went to most of the animal talks for the penguins, seabirds, monk seal, and sea lions. My favorite thing was actually something that was not advertised which was when the trainers were just practicing with the dolphins. We were able to get up just a few feet from the beautiful creatures. Regarding parking, we first parked along the highway, but ended up paying $18 to park in the lot so it would be easier to eat/rest. We’ve come to a point that we should just use our money rather than trying to inconvenience ourselves by saving it. Money is a good servant, but a poor master.

Our luau $194 was also at Sea Life Park. We’ve been to one each time we’ve gone to Hawaii, but I think this one was my favorite. We did the different stations like making a lei bracelet, ukulele lesson, hula dancing, fish net throwing, “bowling”, etc. We saw them take out the pig that was in the ground cooking and then proceeded to the buffet line: standard luau food with teriyaki chicken, kaulua pork, lomi lomi salmon, poi, etc. There was a lot of dancing and it ended with the fireknife show. It was a little windy, but I’m happy that it did not rain. We drove back to Waikiki and were also grateful that we found parking on the Ala Wai Canal.

Tuesday 2/17
I could have planned another event from the Go City pass besides Fireknife, but thought we could try to do our own things instead of being rushed. We took our time leaving the hotel in the morning, walking to our rental car, then heading out to Punchbowl Crater. I didn’t know that it was actually a national cemetery and it was very well maintained and had a pretty lookout point of Honolulu city. We then headed to Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden where there was a beautiful lake with koi fish. There were a good amount of people there since I guess it got Instagram famous. We hiked a little more inland where it was secluded and the landscape was so beautiful and green. Going to Hawaii this time of year is probably not the best.

There was a wind advisory and a huge storm a couple days before we arrived here. We also had to postpone, then cancel our catamaran sail since 25 mph winds on the water might make us seasick and ruin our vacation. However, I did like the wind on land since it made the humidity a little more bearable, but always checking the weather to see the forecast wasn’t as fun. Thankfully, it didn’t rain during the luau yesterday nor for our fireknife experience $60 today. We drove to Hauula and had to use a Google doc to find where to meet. For the first 15 mins, we learned how to throw and spin the baton, and the 2nd half, we learned how to beat the taiko drums. I had been learning how to spin a baton at home for the last couple weeks, so it helped when learning to do the figure 8 motion. I was able to spin with the fire lighting up both ends (keep spinning and don’t let the stick go vertical) and Anson did some taiko drumming. There were quite a few people in our group, so the experience felt a little chaotic, but I’m still glad we did it. Afterwards, I went to Foodland for poke and Anson got L&L, we got gas to refill the rental car, and returned it at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Wednesday, 2/18
Today, we hiked Diamond Head $40. We got to our pickup area at 9:40 and a shuttle took us there by 10:10am. There are a LOT more people there now. I guess this place has always been popular since it is close to Waikiki. The hike is only 1.6 miles roundtrip (but with stunning views of the city). We were finished by 11:40am, and since the shuttle wasn’t going to pick us up until 12:30pm, we decided to just walk back (40 mins). I was surprised that Marugame Udon had no line! Anson again got a beef bowl and I tried their tonkatsu udon (this was my favorite broth).

We then rested at the hotel, then went out to see the O Na Lani Sunset Stories performance at the International Market Place. We then walked to 7-11 to try to buy a Holo card to take the bus to Honolulu airport tomorrow, but found out you needed cash to purchase (?). Need to put on my travel check list to always carry cash. We bought onigiris though (guess they try to cater to their Japanese clientele since 7-11 is popular there. I liked my spicy ahi roll and Anson had his usual salmon onigiris. We watched half of Ready Player One until we couldn’t stand the slow internet connection. Glad I’m making use of the movies I bought years ago on Google Play 🙂

Thursday, 2/19
Last day! I was able to get late checkout at our hotel, so we were able to take it easy, eat breakfast, go to the fitness center, do Bible Project, and checked out at 2pm. We did our last activity which was a self-guided audio tour of Waikiki and learn about the different hotels and points of interest including the banyan tree at the International Market Place and the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Statue. We went to Marugame Udon $32 for the 3rd time this trip where I got a tan tan udon (not as enjoyable as tonkatsu), and then Ubered to HNL. We had to eat our packed dinner of carrots and oranges before going thru the agricultural screening. The 2 lounges at this airport are subpar, but enjoyed some coffee.

I had checked in to our Southwest flight yesterday, and snagged the exit row which has extra legroom for free! Our row mate also switched rows, so we had 3 seats to ourselves. However, because the seats don’t recline, it was still difficult to fall asleep. Hopefully since I paid for our extra legroom seats that do recline on our SAS flight to Copenhagen, it will be more tolerable. We got back at 5:30am on Friday and walked to LAX-IT (in 40 degree weather) and Ubered ($89 + $15 tip) home. Glad we’re home! Happy we went, though I think the first time to Hawaii is always the most magical. The wind was also not something we could control as we had to cancel our Catamaran sail. I can see that Oahu and especially Waikiki is very touristy and crowds just makes things less enjoyable. It’s a fault of their own success. Everybody wants to come here. Do I want to come back? I think so, but maybe in 10-20 years time 🙂

1. Short trips to Solvang: staying at a self run hotel and ziplining, cruise to Catalina/Ensenada: prime rib elegant dinner, adventure course on the cruise, and ziplining again, Denver: Red Rocks Amphitheater hike and free upgraded IHG rooms all booked with points

2. Became members of CCCTO and serve on worship team (some things never change). Anson goes to their leadership class once a month, and put his software skills to use by building a slide builder tool for worship leaders and is in the process of helping to revamp the website.

3. One of Priscilla’s favorite activities is supporting the local economy/performing arts: blueberry and strawberry picking at Underwood, watching live productions of Anastasia and Murder on the Orient Express at Conejo Players Theatre, Candlelight Concert, Imaginarium, Charlie Hall at Camarillo Community Church, buying sunflowers and rode a tractor at Conejo Family Farms

4. Anson keeping busy with various house projects: aligning kitchen cabinets, installing hooks for Christmas lights, fixing the seal and repairing the dishwasher racks, minor car repairs, resealing countertops, cleared out garage in order to park both cars in it, running drainage pipe so that downspout empties out to the street, painting hallway/bedroom, buying/assembling furniture to finally move in to our master, elevating the citrus trees so they (hopefully) survive us, maintaining the hot tub for wifey to use!

5. Putting their lifetime gym memberships to good use: Anson working out every other Friday with Gary, taking a yoga/pilates class together, and Priscilla enjoying Zumba. She hopes to get better in the Thursday line dancing class…if only she didn’t have 2 left feet.

6. Thankful for the many friends from the Bay Area and SoCal making the effort to see us: Steve/Shirley, Jo-Ann, Raymond, Emily, Jeff/Eleanor, James/Char, Mark/Jenn, Cindy. Also thankful for technology to have virtual meals w/ Randy/Eva and Albert/Ruth.

7. Monthly visits to see parents. Thankful that we are now physically closer (with still some separation) and can help parents in various tasks like dog sitting, hospital appointments, celebrate holidays/birthdays with one another.

8. Opening up our home and hosting small group, potlucks, and cooking for various friends/our church family.

9. Though inflation has made it harder and not really doing couponing anymore, still saving money on streaming via Google Opinion Rewards, free trials, and AMEX offers: free months of Amazon Prime, Peacock, Disney+/Hulu, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Discovery+ MGM, and YouTube Premium Lite. 

10. Still in the credit card game and opened a couple hotel credit cards this year and have stayed multiple nights for free in SGV, Solvang, Culver City, and Denver, with just our regular spending habits. Hoping the new Hyatt card will give us some new adventures in the new year!

Quote from Downton Abbey…didn’t watch all of it, but I get the sentiment.

I feel like my life has been divided into a few sections:
1. Growing up in LA, school, work, long distance relationship, marriage, and moving up to…
2. The Bay Area for 12 years, buying our first house, mental health and work, involvement in church, developing relationships with those in the workplace/church/extended family, and ultimately leading to moving back to SoCal to…
3. Buying a house in Camarillo to be closer to family, working remotely, navigating how to take care of said family members when they’ll need more care, making new friends in a new environment, getting plugged into a new church and learning how to balance our time/energy/money in a sustainable way.

These sections of our life look a little distinct since they are in different locations, and they should. They are filled with different situations, life choices, peoples, etc, but…I don’t think that exactly means that they can’t intersect. When I lived in SFV with my parents, I would come up to the Bay Area to visit Anson. When I was in the Bay Area, I would fly down to see my parents and friends like Gina, Cindy, Weber, Crescentia, and Junior. We now live in Camarillo, and while it’s still in SoCal, it’s a little bit away from where we grew up. If we want to see people, we will still have to drive to them.

If we lived in SFV, it would make it more convenient to see people that we knew…but…truthfully, we have grown apart from most people that we knew. I do think we made the right decision in moving here. SFV is just way too hot in the summer and we would be miserable for months every year. Camarillo has great weather, good infrastructure, is well run, MIGHT have a Costco someday, not as many people (and hope to keep it that way), and we honestly were able to buy our dream house. We’ve looked on Redfin and no other house matches this one. We have made some friends in our new church in Thousand Oaks and don’t always have to drive to TO since we’ve been hosting our small group. Raymond, Steve/Shirley, and James/Char have visited us, and Cindy will be coming next week to stay over on the weekend. We’ve met some Bay Area friends in LA (Eleanor/Jeff, Yeh family, Emily/Kevin, Jo-Ann), and are going to see Mark/Jenn in a few weeks when they come to TO.

It is probably normal to drift away from people especially if you aren’t able to live life together in the same place. I understand why Gary wants our small group to meet every week since he wants the group to have fellowship/socialization and grow closer to each other…but if you have those bonds, you don’t necessarily have to see each other THAT much. And if you do that, it shrinks your social bandwidth for your other relationships, which I do NOT want to lose.

When we do visit SFV, I’ve made time to eat with Gina, Weber, and Crescentia. We are able to talk to people we knew at CCAC or New Life when we have visited, and I don’t really see that changing in the near future. When we visited the Bay Area, we caught up with church friends, extended family, and coworkers. I’m hoping that we can visit at least once every year or two. We’ve had virtual meals with both sets of parents and Anson’s extended family. Because of the rain this week, we did virtual meals with Randy/Eva and Ruth/Albert and were able to catch up with each other’s lives and talk about some spiritual things to help spur one another on. One good thing that came out of COVID was a normalizing of virtual gatherings. We just need to have the intention to reach out and keep up our relationships.

I’m probably rambling…I guess to tie this in with the title of this post…regardless of where we are in the present, whether in SFV, Santa Clara, or Camarillo, relationships with the people that matter to me are the memories that I want to cherish. Yes, it may take some work to keep them going, but isn’t that how it should be? I don’t have to wait for others to reach out, and it’s not like no one has. There have been people who have come to see us even though we are a little further away, and technology has also made our world a little bit more accessible…use it for good!

I turned 40 a few months ago. I guess I don’t really feel it (besides the weird body aches and back pain :). Since I’m probably around the halfway point, I wanted to reflect a little on my life and how it has been up till now, be honest about my current circumstances, and to delve into how I see how I should approach the future going forward.

I grew up in a Christian family with my mom sometimes filling in and speaking from the pulpit, but not really a pastor. Both my parents had minimum wage jobs, but were frugal with money, and with some help from family, they bought had a house in Reseda. I went to a Christian elementary school, and public school for both middle and high school. I only applied to one college which was CSUN, a 10 mins commute from home. Worked part time at a health food store while full-time in college. Graduated with no debt with a BS degree in Business Administration with the option of Finance. I worked at a toner company and then a testing company for 4 years before getting married and moved up to the Bay Area where we lived for 12 years.

We went to Redeemer Bible Fellowship and participated in small groups and served on and off on worship team. We made a few friends during our time up in the Bay Area. We bought a house at the end of 2013 before the market went crazy. I worked at a real estate company, an assisted living facility, a non profit helping homeless youth and their families, and finally a Christian non profit helping with drug addiction, housing for single mothers, and various homeless services. We thought that we were up in NorCal and would spend the rest of our days there…things changed.

It wasn’t an epiphany…it was more like a gradual realization that our parents would be needing more help in the future, that even though we built a life in the Bay Area and we’d be leaving our secure jobs, our extended family, our community of church friends that we’ve grown to know and love…that it would be okay and that God had a plan for our lives.

Some of the next couple paragraphs might echo my previous post, but hey, life is sometimes repetitive 🙂 It’s been a little over a year since we’ve moved down. We settled in Camarillo which is 30 mins from Aaron and Lauren, 45 mins from Anson’s parents, and 1 hr (without traffic) to my parents. We wanted to be somewhere where the city is safe and roads are clean, a place that would have great weather since we like to walk outside, and not TOO close to family in order to have a little bit of separation. We were able to buy a house much cheaper than those in the Bay Area and this one checked off almost all of our boxes (private backyard, dual sinks, concrete slab for the gym, big kitchen, etc). 

I am able to work from home for my Christian non-profit, Anson is good at using his time doing various things for church, health, and home, and we’re able to live comfortable off our assets/investments. We go to the gym twice a week, and Anson has a workout buddy that pushes him to be better. We’ve joined a Chinese church in the next city over, Thousand Oaks, and host a weekly small group. We serve on worship team once a month and are trying to make an effort to get to know more people within the church. My mom was diagonsed with stage 0 breast cancer and has had 2 surgeries. I’ll be taking her to see the oncologist next week and for us to figure out the next steps (radiation/hormone blockers). It is a blessing to be able to serve her in this way.

Presently, I don’t think I can complain about my life. How is it that God let us be in the Bay Area at the best time for us in terms of Anson’s job by getting in early and getting good options and buying a house before prices went bonkers? Was it all in his plan for us to leave SoCal 12-16 years ago just to come back for family? Why is it that we are pretty much set and don’t have to worry financially? I don’t think it is to just sip mai tais at the beach. I don’t know the answer yet, but I do know that I should try to live purposefully and try to not waste the time I have. I’ve realized that life isn’t that fun if you can’t share it with others and if you aren’t working toward kingdom goals. Now and in the future, I’m hoping to serve willingly at church, love on members of our church family and get to know (strategically) some more people, to serve my family by being cook/dishwasher/cleaner/chauffeur, and a wife that respects and follows her hubby’s leadership.

It’s pretty easy to remember exactly when we moved down…July 4th. In some ways it feel longer and shorter at the same time. I still remember going to countless hangouts to say goodbye to friends and family, how we were packing our 8 x 8 x 16 container with as many belongings as we could, breaking down the night before, crying as I swept the floors and pulled the weeds one last time before handing our house of a decade over to the new owners, driving down in 100 degree heat, staying over at the Wongs and seeing fireworks in their neighborhood, driving the next day to Camarillo to see the house we had put an offer on but was rejected, submitting a stronger offer but staying firm with the price, driving to my parents’ place, and getting a call from our agent that our offer was accepted.

We’ve missed friends up the in Bay Area, yet have gained new ones here in Ventura County. I’ve been able to work remotely for my company of almost 4 years, CityTeam. Hours have been reduced, but it has given me much more flexibility in how I can use my time productively. We have settled comfortably in a new church in Thousand Oaks, attend (and are currently hosting) a small group weekly, and serve on the worship team. Husband left Pure in October since they wouldn’t let him work from home anymore. Presently, tech has been given a reckoning and it is a little harder to thrive in software. Seems like he was able to get into tech at the best time and also leave before it went downhill. We are privileged to be in a good financial situation to not have to worry about working for money. Anson’s taking a church leadership class, is able to actively learn each day, spurs us on in our faith by making us pray and read the Bible (hopefully in a year…and a couple months), and been able to do so much for the house to make it our home.

This house came with many luxuries that we wouldn’t have dreamed of having: smart fridge, fountain, recessed and dimming lights, heated bathroom mirrors, outdoor hot tub spa, completely private backyard, 1 room on concrete slab for Anson’s gym, a master bedroom (that we haven’t moved in to) that overlooks our backyard oasis, etc. We chose Camarillo because it has some of the best weather…in the world. The Valley is in the 90s while we are 75 degrees. We are 30 mins from Aaron’s, 45 mins from the Wongs, and +1 hr from my parents. We came down to be closer to family and have approximately been seeing parents around once a month. We’ve gone back to the Bay Area twice: once for Anson to say goodbye to coworkers and second time to get my keyboard and guitar to practice for worship team. We’ve also seen the Leongs, Yehs, Chens, and Changs here, so people aren’t strangers!

Overall, I do believe we made the right decision to move back to SoCal. Our purpose should focus on how to serve and make time for our parents, friends, and the church we committed to. Hope the next year is filled with just that!

I booked a trip to Denver for a couple reasons: 1. Was looking for a domestic location since the husband won’t let us travel internationally this year (Ensenada on the cruise does not count), and I wanted to avoid LAX as much as possible. Burbank had one way tickets to Denver for $26! Was able to pay and get it credited with Capital One Points. 2. Denver International just opened a new Capital One Lounge…I love lounge hopping 🙂 I was able to use the travel credit for our ACE car rental, flights back using Southwest points, and 2 nights in Golden and 2 nights in Denver using my free nights with the IHG credit card. Both hotel had free parking and breakfast.

Denver is known to have a lot of outdoors activities. I chose Golden since it was close to hiking trails. We hiked the Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater and Green Mountain on separate days. We went to Meow Wolf and explored both downtowns in Golden and Denver (Golden by far was better). I am writing all of this at the Denver International Airport in the Capital One Lounge, loving all the food and drinks at my fingertips. As our trip is starting to wrap up, I gotta ask…do I actually like traveling?

Getting to a destination can be simply described as a pain: packing, getting to the airport, finding transportation whether by public means or a rental car, getting to your hotel, figuring out food and experience options in said destination, etc. What is it that makes me want to go thru all this hassle to hike (when I am not the best at remembering locations) and eating at Thai, Mediterranean, Hawaiian restaurants, etc. where I could probably find similar to better quality establishments in SoCal. The first day we arrived, it was also windy and raining. Inclement weather can put a damper on plans as things are ultimately not under your control. So…what makes me want to do this?

Maybe it is partially that I want to say that I’ve traveled to various places, to have a goal to see different sights, to be able to travel on the cheap and find great deals on flights, activities, food, rental cars, and hotels…I know that ultimately, all these things aren’t important. God won’t be impressed by my freebie finding and wanderlust adventures. What matters is how I can glorify him in my heart, words, and actions. I don’t think traveling is bad and will probably still wanna go to places once in a while. Maybe it’ll be more fun for both Anson and I if I let us recover before the next time 🙂