words to live by no.1

//San Onofre campgrounds//

I'm a California girl, always and forever, and the outdoors is my thing. Especially the ocean-side outdoors. When I was younger, we'd head south to Oceanside for a week at a time share in a complex with its own entrance to the ocean. That was one of my favorite weeks of the year, second only to the Christmas holidays and my birthday week. I didn't have very much to stress about then, but still, that week was pure relaxation. That week was home-cooked meals with a few early morning walks to the cafe sprinkled in. That week was about doing whatever felt good - starting a book on the patio and finishing it in the afternoon on the beach, journaling the same way, heading to the jacuzzi for an hour after the sunset because the warm water felt so soothing after the saltiness of the ocean.

This last year, we did a little bit of camping. Camping is a lot of work, packing and prepping. It's not always comfortable - we've haven't yet splurged on an air mattress for inside our tiny 2-person tent. But camping is magical. It's all earth and sea and salt and wind. Camping is earthiness and groundedness and being completely present. Camping is so in the moment - rugged and cool and rough around the edges. I love it. It's one of my favorite parts of summer to just sleep on the dirt for a couple of days.

It's practically summer in China, and the closest we've gotten to the ocean was our visit to Hong Kong. We're worlds away from the OC, but I'm holding on to those lessons from the beach. Watch. Listen. Breathe. Feel. Present.