Artists Way Week 4...

This is kind of another half ass week.

I hate to say that, but honestly this move is going to impact this journey probably more than I thought, but it's ok.  I've done this before so I'm familiar with a lot of the tasks and chapters.

I did my morning pages almost every morning.  I missed Friday due to me having a massive anxiety attack because I had to have my cat fast the night before and try to get ready as fast as I could that morning so she wasn't screaming at me too much that she was starving and have to some how sneak her into the cat carrier.  Let's just say not a great morning.

I also sucked and didn't do them Sat or Sun because I had to get up super early and I'm freaking exhausted.  So - FAIL.

One night this week I went out with my Artists Way buddy and she's doing great!  I'm super stoked that she's enjoying this process!

The main thing we were supposed to do this week is called Reading Deprivation.  Now - I totally get why she does this but - this was written in the 90's.  Internet and phone use was not what it is today, so rather than deprive my reading - I deprived my phone play and TV binging.  The whole point of the exercise is to find something better to do with your time - mediate, knit, create, etc.  I think in today's society there's a lot of us that already do this.  Our phones and devices have taken up so much of our time and distracting us that we feel the need to put into place efforts to quell this.  So the good thing is this wasn't super hard because I kind of already do it.  If I find myself wasting time on my phone too much or binging too much TV I do something about it.  Plus this week my social calendar happened to be pretty full so I didn't find myself with too much time wasting time.  One night though I did get home earlier and I normally probably would have just turned on the TV but rather I colored!

The tasks this week were listing a bunch of things that "sound fun".  Classes, hobbies, things I wouldn't normally do, fun skills to have...etc.

Hobbies are pretty standard for me.  Although I did write down Tai Chi - so I may need to revisit that.  I'm really wanting to take some classes, most likely will be future Artist Dates.  The used to enjoy doing was something I also want to re-visit - like riding my bike and crafting.  I also kind of liked the "5 Silly things you'd try once".  I don't think mine were silly but what do you think:
Shoot a film, Do Cabaret, Surf, American Ninja Warrior, Drive Route 66.  Hmmm...interesting....

I also kind of half assed my Artists Date this week.  I did an almost all day Food Tour with my friend Taylor and was so damn worn out Saturday night when I planned to date I just stayed in.  But I think I reasoned pretty good - this time next week I'll be living in a new place with my boyfriend and his kiddo and their dog and my cat and will be adjusting to the totally new life.  So - I wanted one last night alone.  To do absolutely nothing.  I need to check out and not think and not worry and I know I'm not supposed to watch TV this week, but I binged Sabrina and drank wine and just let myself numb out.  It was actually quite nice and I think really needed.  Today on is going to be a whirlwind and the whole move will be tough so I needed that one last time.

I'm super inspired by my friend doing this - she's taking a Candle Making Class today for her Artists Date and she's doing so good!  It brings me such joy that she seems to get getting a lot out of this so far and she's pushing me (She doesn't realize it probably, LOL) to not throw this aside and get back to it later.  The next couple of weeks may be rough because I'll be moving, then adjusting to new life and working on getting settled but I won't stop.

On to Week 5!

Old Towne Orange Vintage Food Walking Tour...

So - for Xmas I got Taylor an Old Town Food Tour!  I did one a while back with my friend Tianna which you can read about HERE.

1st of all - Food Tour.  Food.  Um in.  Also it's always super fun to be a tourist in your own town.  Taylor is one of my favorite adventure buddies so what better presie to give him for Xmas!  Yay! 

Tianna and I did the one, so Taylor chose the Vintage Tour.  FYI there's 3...so I think I need to do the 3rd one at some point! :)

Today was a perfect day!  Beautiful weather, a lovely tour guide and treking around Old Town with one of my favorite humans eating!

The tour started at Streamliner/Ruby's which I actually don't really patronize because of a really bad experience awhile back...but I'm starting to get over it.  Well today was lovely - Kimberly gave us a lovely history lesson about the trains, how they started, bringing produce in and out, Orange used to be a big farming area, and how the Ruby's here is different from all the other Ruby's because they kept the building to be like the old train depot.  I do love how Orange keeps stuff the way it used to be with a modern twist!

Kimberly giving us the intro

Learning about the train depot

This was also our 1st food taste!

After this we wandered over to what is apparently the oldest park in Orange County.  It's right outside Ruby's and a really cool Veteran's Memorial.

Quick Selfie moment

We stopped by the The Potting Shed- which I love - and got free little succulents!  Yay!

We then wandered over to the Farmer's Market - which FYI is way bigger than it used to be!!  Curses that I'm moving right when this damn thing has become awesome!  I'll just have to make some trips down here!

Farmers Market

There was a lovely moment where the tour guide handed out raffle tickets.  She had 3 loaves of bread to raffle off from one of the Farmers Market Vendors.  One was a sourdough loaf. I love sourdough and that's really all I should eat.  I almost bought a loaf so this was a sign!  I turned to Taylor and said "I'm going to win the sourdough loaf!"  The 1st name was drawn and she took the Marble loaf.  2nd number was ME!!!  So I took it !!!  Totes pissed off some preppy dude with this uncomfortable girlfriend cuz they wanted it...but....I WON!  Yaaaaaaas!

We then headed towards the Circle but stopped at the German woman's home which is is this beautiful home that everyone knows and she even came out and said hi!  She also gave us flyers for her Spring Boutique.  She has 2 a year and all proceeds go to CHOC.  How rad is that? 

Such a pretty home!

After this we wandered over to Rutabagorz.  We rallied inside and were served their yummy iced tea and vegetable/chicken soup.  Yum!!!  She also pulled out an original menu from the 70's that was decoupaged on!  So rad!!

Showing off the rad old timey menu

Dude

Delish

We then went next door to the Dragonfly Shop and got a free cute coaster!  My mom loves this store!

Next foodie stop was Zitos!  I really shouldn't have eaten pizza but damn it was so freaking good!!!

So good

We then headed into the Circle part of the Circle.  She chatted about the history of how Orange started by...oh...FYI...a bunch of WOMEN that said "Hey...we need to make this cool".  Cuz yeah...WOMEN GET SHIT DONE. 

Snack

Happy Xmas T!

Next up was a couple of Vintage Stores in the Circle.  Now...this is always the parts I don't super care about in the food tour, shopping.  I'm on a FOOD TOUR.  Feed me bitches!!!

We then landed at Wahoos.  Literally just had lunch here Friday...which I have almost every Friday with dad.  But of course yum!  I also didn't take a pic of the food, but they gave us rice/beans and a bit of pork.

Wahoos Decor

We then went over to Taco Adobe.  Apparently the place is too little to get us all in there, so we ate street Chix Tacos in the alley.  Kind of random but delicious none the less.  FYI - Taylor and I were pros...ate that gloriousness and didn't spill.  Everyone else was making a damn mess.  Seriously people...STREET  TACOS.

Amateurs.

Then we were given yummy little candies.  OMG my gramma used to have these out for us to eat all the time!!!

Last stop was the Hilbert Museum.  Not too exciting for me...Um I work at Chapman.  But our Tour Guide was adorable and it was a super fun day and I totally learned a few more thing about Orange I may have not known.

Taylor and I then landed at Provisions because there was not booze on this tour (WTF) to grab a couple of drinks and maybe some more food (Fatties)

Cheers to a perfect day!

It was a perfect day with one of my dearest and had so much fun!!!  I'm stuffed and happy and so glad we did this!

Oh just another blog on geocaching...

Because I love documenting my finds!

Here's some more!

Pat and I went to a wedding in AZ that you can read about here.  On the way we stopped at Chiraco Summit and I looked up a Virtual Cache there!  We stopped and ate at the little restaurant there and right next to it is the General Patton Memorial Museum, which is where the Virtual Cache was.  The museum doesn't have to be open to complete this task so a quick little walk over, answered the questions - BOOM.  Logged.

So over holiday break I basically just ate and drank myself to almost 10 pounds of extra weight.  But that's what you're supposed to do right?  Well one of the days I had to drag my ass out and move.  So my friend Stacey and I decided to do some geocaching!  I looked on my map for somewhere there may be a bunch and there was some off Cannon Street in Orange.  It's a nice hill street so we'd get a little bit of a work out in as well.  We found 3 out of 4!

Check out the trick rock!

I loved these little blue flowers

This one was rad!  You have to fill it up with water and the cache floats up to the top.  You'll see below the hole you have to plug while you're pouring the water in.  So fun!

One of my best caching buddies

Left a little swag in this one!

On New Years Day I wanted to earn the Hello 2020 souvenir since I totally forgot to get the goodbye 2019 one.  So Pat and I took a walk on the beautiful New Years Day in Yorba Regional Park and found 3 out of 4!

The biggest damn squirrel was not happy I was geocaching in his hood

This one earned me my souvenir!

A boy and his dog

Geese

Sunburst!

Clever

I'm getting good at these!

I threw a wedding here once!

Another day - my "hubs" and I went and did a Scavenger Hunt at the Getty!  You can read about that HERE.  There was an Virtual Cache I wanted to hit up.  It led you over to these little cactus and gave you a knowledge on what they're called!

He's always up for an adventure!

Barrel Cactus...FYI

I'm also in the process of doing The Artist's Way - which if you're really bored you can read about my journey HERE and one of the things you do is go on Artists Dates.  I decided to walk down to the Orange Circle one morning and remembered there was a cache in front of City  Hall.  I'd looked once before but it was kind of busy, so this was a perfect time as it was so friggin quiet!  I found it!  Sadly I forgot a pen so I couldn't sign, but I did log it!

You're around here somewhere

OMG could it be that obvious?!

It sure can!

Another morning I got me a pedicure and knew there was a cache around the corner so BAM!

Been wanting to grab you for a while!

My little adventure group landed at La Brea Tar Pits - another read about HERE if you wanted.  Well there was 1 actual cache and 2 Virtual ones!  So of course I had to hit them up!

I left one of my dragons!

Teaching Jack about caching

We learned some stuff!

Another Artists Date landed me wandering Handy Park - right behind the old Elementary School I used to go to!!  There's a new cache there!!  I was also hell bent on getting one because I earned myself the Palindrome souvenir!

Hi new cache!

New souvenir!

And the last official cache of this blog was a new one at The District in Tustin.  Easy Parking Lot Grab after Happy Hour with a girlfriend!

Happy Hour Cache!

I can't get over how much I love doing this!!!  I'm sure more of my Artists Dates are going to be caching.  I'm also really hoping to hide my 1st one once I get settled in my new place!  It's right across from some trails so I think I can find a great location!!!!!

Happy Caching Friends!!!!

Artists Way Week 3...

There was a fun little list this week:
My favorite child toy was:  Probably a stuffed animal - I always loved them.
My favorite childhood game was:  Wiffle Ball - we'd play in the street.
The best movie I ever say as a kid was:  I loved the Aristocats.
I don't do it much but I enjoy:  Coloring.
If I could lighten up a little I'd let myself:  Be less OCD.
If it weren't too late I'd:  Change Careers.
My favorite musical instrument is:  Drums.
The amount of $$$ I send on treating myself to entertainment each month is:  Too much.
If I weren't so stingy with my artist I'd buy her:  An art room.
Taking time out for myself is:  Easy.
If I had a perfect childhood I'd have grown up to be:  Someone who went to college.
If it didn't sound too crazy I'd write or make:  A book
What makes me feels weird about my recovery is:  Am I doing it right?
My most cheer up me music is:  Happy Music - I have a list.
My favorite way to dress is:  Comfy.

There was a lot of other questions after this - things from your childhood, bad habits, friends who nurture, people I admire, etc.  I'm considering writing thank you notes again to the Nurture folks.  Maybe send a letter to the folks I admire.  This is a possible Artists Date in the future.

I missed 3 days of morning pages this week.  Friday had a work retreat so had to leave early, then Sat was at a hotel and today was just a lazy ass.  I promise I'll get back to them tomorrow.



My Artists Date is going to be a 2 parter - I took about 20 min or so and went to grab a Geocache at Handy Park.  I then strolled around a bit and took a little trip down memory lane!  This is where I went to Elementary School.  I then plan to pamper myself tonight with bath, mask and pedi to myself. 

I really don't have too much to report this week.  Other than I had dinner one night with someone it looks like I'll be working with in the summer on an theatrical project!  I can't mention details now, but fingers crossed that will come to fruition.

I'm in the process of getting ready to move over Valentine's Weekend and that's been inhibiting this Artists Way Journey a bit.  I'm not quitting or giving up, but there may be a couple weeks I don't put as much time I'd like to into this, but I'm keeping at it.

I'll be getting Happy Hour with my friend whose doing this week me on Tuesday night this week so we'll be able to really chat about it so far which I'm totally looking forward too!

Onto Week 4!!