love always, Mira

hello!

happy 2018! here's my first post for the new year. woohoo!

on january 28th, 2018, it was "free-for-all" day for socal museums aka one of my favorite days. so i asked my cousin to pick a museum off of the list from the museums participating that day and we went.

as someone who loves being coastal, orange county is the closest i can get to avoiding the los angeles madness sometimes.  i'm not going to be the only one to say this but the drive from los angeles to orange county isn't a close one. especially with LA traffic, it can make an hour drive turn into a three hour drive. yet there we were, talking and laughing our way through the traffic, making it bearable. on this day we visited the Orange County Museum of Arts (OCMA) with our friend Marielle. once we got to our destination, i was excited for the kind of artwork i was going to see.

i love visiting museums and looking at art. i'm not going to try to tell you that i like art because I'm talented at drawing or i aspire to be the next kara walker. not at all. i appreciate art because every artwork i see enables me to feel a different emotion. however, what i appreciate just a tad more than the art itself, is reading the art descriptions. i like reading about the artists, what inspired them, and what they're trying to convey in their artwork. i can appreciate the different forms the artists has used for their piece. it's like music. while every brush stroke, shade, and color is beautiful on it's own, it gives meaning when used for something bigger... contributing to the piece as a whole.

just as we finished going through the different rooms and looking at each piece, the sun was just starting to set. the beautiful part about golden hour is how it adds a glow to everything and everyone the sun shines upon- making it the best time to take pictures. here are some of my favorite from that day:

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We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. Jawaharlal Nehru
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This past weekend, I went on a cruise with some of my friends. When we were all getting together and planning the trip, my friend Sheryl asked people who would be available for that weekend. The people who said yes were those who could come. Don't get me wrong, we're all friends and have known each other for years, but quite frankly, the eight of us haven't hung out as an actual group prior to this weekend. Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience and such a fun weekend.

Friday, we all met up in Long Beach and parked our cars at a friend's house. From there we Ubered to  the cruise port (by Queen Mary). It was a hassle checking in (but when is it not). We had to wait in line and our excitement didn't really help since we just wanted to get on the ship already. After embarking, we put our luggage in our rooms and began to explore the ship. [Fun fact: My first cruise was when I was 15 years old and it was nice remembering old memories.] After looking around for a while, we went back to our room to unpack a bit. Then it was time to meet at the muster stations to hear about safety drills for emergency evacuations. Afterwards, we headed to the buffet for a late lunch. I'll be the first to admit, we were all definitely excited for the food. Later that evening, we headed to the the dining room for dinner. Then we hit the club around 11pm. After going to the club, we went back up to the buffet area for some late night pizza and ice cream because it's open 24 hours. HA! 

Saturday, we woke up around 6 am to get ready for a fun day in Mexico. We had breakfast then got off the ship. As soon as we got on the bus, a guy was explaining all the promotions and fun things to do. Our group heard, "$25 for unlimited drinks and food," and we all looked at each other and pretty much agreed we'd be there for a while. Got off the bus and immediately got wristbands for the cantina. We got in a few drinks and some chips, then got on another bus to head to the beach. The guys all worked together and they were able to hook us up with transportation from the cantina to the beach (round trip). Our bus driver dropped us off at the beach and we asked him to pick us up again in 2 hours. Some of us went swimming, some of us chilled and took pictures. From the cantina, we got to-go mango drinks and I soon needed to use the restroom. However, we didn't exchange our money. I needed to pay 5 pesos for to use the restroom. I went around asking people, "Habla ingles?" Everyone said no. I was getting really desperate and I asked a woman if she spoke English. She said no, but she proceeded to ask me what I needed in spanish. Let's just say 3 years of spanish in high school helped me in this situation because I was somehow able to communicate with her in spanish. She gave me 5 pesos and I tried to give her 50 cents in exchange but she didn't want it and helped lead me to the people in charge. Afterwards, when my friends needed to use the restroom, did I come to find that the man in charge spoke English! HA!

Once we were done with the beach we got fish tacos. Who doesn't like a good taco? The place we headed to had several food places right next to each other and one of them sold piña coladas. I bought me and Sheryl one. I was excited. All I wanted was fish tacos and a piña colada during my time in Mexico, and I got it! Our bus driver picked us up and we headed back to the cantina where we ate our tacos. We ordered more drinks and food just because. Who doesn't take advantage of an open bar and unlimited food? Good drinks, good food, fun music, and amazing company definitely set us up with some fun memories. Once the clock hit 5pm, the bus came to take us back to the cruise ship. It took a while to get back on the ship but once we did, we all just fell asleep since it was a long day. We woke up for dinner and we went to our sit-down dining room (instead for the buffet). Our server Jomer was the man! He was so fun to talk to. Also, after having dessert did he tell us that the captain's dinner was that night. We didn't know! We got dinner pretty late and once we were done, we decided to split. Some of us went up to the upper level deck and some of us went clubbing. The hard part when splitting was the lack of cell service and internet (we didn't get wifi), so we couldn't contact one another to find out where the other people were. Luckily around 2 am, my friend Jenilee and I decided to head to the buffet. We wanted pizza and ice cream, and soon after, we met up with our group. Once we were all done eating and talking, we went back to our room and slept.

With our server, Jomer

Sunday was a day at sea! I have no idea what the ship does, but we spend all day in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We got breakfast then walked around. The girls went to tea time while the guys went swimming and had fun at the water park. We met up to watch Zootopia at one of the big meeting rooms. After the movie we decided we were all tired so we went back to our rooms to take a nap (we had late nights and early morning so we kept going back to our rooms for naps throughout the trip). We woke up and got ready for dinner. Jomer was our server all three nights and that night while we sat down he asked if we wanted Filipino food. Thinking it was a joke, we said yes. After finishing our entrees, Jomer brings us bowls of Filipino food to share for our table. HA! Once we were done with dinner, we decided to go to a karaoke bar. We stayed until closing then headed right next door to the club. The club got tiring after a while so we went to the upper level deck to play mini golf. It was so windy and my feet hurt so I tapped out after a bit. I chilled by the pool and then my friend, Jenilee, joined me. We played some games, went back to our rooms to exchange our heels for sandals, then went back up to the buffet. It was 1 am and soon after, we met our friends there again. It's quite funny actually, because once it hits around 2 am everyone from the club goes up for pizza and ice cream. See the reoccurring theme there? Afterwards, we went to our rooms to pack our stuff since we were heading home to next day.



Monday morning, I woke up first to get ready. Once we were all ready, we went up for breakfast and had a nice last meal. Sadly, we needed to go to guest services and waited in line for two hours. After getting our situations handled, we look around and learn that we were the last people to get off the ship! I was so exhausted from the weekend I got home and fell asleep. Woke up a few hours later, had dinner, and took another nap. Woke up again, chilled with my brothers, our friends, and the family, then fell asleep while watching the Olympics. Although I'm still a bit tired, I'm so grateful to have had such a great trip with my friends. It was nice to be able to spend time with my friends without being distracted by our phones and social media. Also, what better way to build friendship than being stuck on a boat? If you ever get the chance to go, I definitely recommend it!

Thanks for reading!