Julian

I went to Julian, CA with the fam today. So beautiful! A little too hot for an October day in my opinion, but lovely nonetheless. And I've had the photographer's itch for a while, so I took my DSLR and my point-and-shoot (for macro shots) and these are what I got. Sadly, I never realized that the ISO on my DSLR was set to 1600 (ack!), but oh well. They turned out okay anyway, and Photoshop helps with the noise. :)

Apple season. :) 

I love macro photography. <3

Macro photography works the best with insects, but it can be scary with bees. O_o

The honey shop in Julian, Ca. :)

Cuyamaca Lake 

Mami and Papi

In my first blog post not too long ago, I mentioned that much of this blog will be about things that I love. So my my topic for the next few posts will be on one of those lovable things: my family.

Every time I visit my grandparents on my mom's side, or even when something sparks a thought or memory of them, I feel like I'm getting more and more sentimental. I think part of it has to do with me getting older and growing up. My life is changing drastically as I'm stepping out into the "adult world," and with that change comes the realization that my childhood is now a thing of the past. All I have left are my memories of it, and many of those memories involve my grandparents.

Growing up, I spent almost every weekend at my mother's parents' house, often with all three of my cousins from that side of the family. It's a part of me, rooted in the deepest parts and farthest reaches of my memory. Climbing the ficus tree out front, racing tricycles in the back, riding pillows over stretched blankets down the staircases -- I loved my childhood with my Mami and Papi, and I wouldn't exchange it for anything, no matter how much "better" that childhood could have been, because it couldn't have been. There is absolutely no way.

So today, I would like to share five facts about my grandparents that make me love them dearly. :)

Fact #1: They have the best taste in food.
You may be thinking "So what? How can that make someone lovable?" Well, my dear blog-follower, when you love food as much as I and the rest of my family do, it makes a big difference!

Food is one of my favorite things. Though some might consider me a picky eater, I love to try new places, new cuisines, and new dishes. Whenever I'm driving around, I always keep a mental tab on what restaurants I see that I'd like to try. It's just a fact -- I love good food. And I get it from my mom's side of the family.

My mom has told me stories and stories about all the places with good food where her family used to go when she was a kid, whether here in California or in Mexico or El Salvador, and most of them have to do with the food they used to buy: Danish pastries, sausage, and pickled cabbage in Solvang; live crabs in Ensanada; fresh beans in San Salvador. Some of her best memories from her childhood centered around food and family, and so do many of mine.

Now that I'm grown, looking back on my fondest memories with my grandparents, I can genuinely say that food takes a big part in all of them. My favorite food since I was a little girl has been my great-grandmother's Spanish rice, and my favorite holiday dish is our family's Salvadoran turkey stuffing. I love Vietnamese pho, and guess where my Papi wants to take us next time we visit? A new Vietnamese restaurant. And it's a well-known fact to all who know me that I adore coffee -- good, quality coffee. And from where do I get my persnickety taste in coffee? You got it... my grandparents.

Oh, and btw... that's where I get my persnickety taste in bread and chocolate, too. ;)

Fact #2: My Mami is cuter than yours.
Don't deny it. You know it's true. ;)

Every kid loves a grandmother who spoils them. That was my Mami. Heck, that is my Mami! When I was little, it was popsicles and Twinkies almost every week, Easter dresses every year, and constant praise about how adorable we were. Today, it's yummy food whenever we visit, trips to Kohl's for our birthday, and constant praise about how beautiful we are... yeah, not much has changed. :)

And, to top it all off, my Mami is a spunky, four-foot-nine Latina firecracker. Today, she took me to her room and gave me two t-shirts that she didn't want. "They didn't fit me," she said in her adorable accent, then broke out laughing. "I looked like a chorizo!"

Seriously, what's not to love? :)

Fact #3: My Papi knows more than your papi
I figured I might as well continue with the grandparent-bragging theme. :)

My Papi is one of the most read-up, knowledgeable people I know. He doesn't have a doctorate, he's not a professor, but he sure knows how to learn on his own. Ever since I can remember, he has something new to talk about when we visit. Politics, electronics, current events -- you name it, he knows what's going on. Maybe not every detail, but he sure knows his stuff. If only I could be as interested and disciplined as he is!

Fact #4: My Mami loves to sing
Though I think most of my musicianship comes from my dad's side of the family, I know for sure that my love for singing comes from my Mami.

Since she was a little girl, my grandma has loved to sing. And when she was a young woman in El Salvador, someone (I can't remember who) told her that she should learn to sing. At the time she was able to have singing lessons for free, and so she learned to sing opera. Now, at seventy-something years old, she still has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. And every year she sings Happy Birthday just for me.

I have her birthday voice mail from two years ago saved on my cellphone. That's how much I adore it. :)

Fact #5: My Papi loves photography
I have no doubt about where I get my love for photography . My Papi has always been a wonderful amateur photographer, and I don't see anything like it in any of my other grandparents. I get my love of all things photographic from him, hands down.

All over his house, you can find prints going back decades. Panoramas, flowers, portraits -- he's done them all, and he's pretty darn good at it. And no matter where we went when I was little, or where we go now that I'm grown, you can be sure he'll be toting a camera bag loaded with gear.

Again, I can only hope that, someday, I'll learn from his example. :)


Well, there you have it! My grandparents in a nutshell. So much of me comes from who they are, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love them dearly and am so glad that God has given them to me for all of these years. I'll cherish every moment I have with them. :)

Apologies... mostly to myself.

You see? I really am a terrible blogger. But I know I have the desire down inside me somewhere. I can feel it. I have the day off tomorrow, and I have a lot to get done, but blogging is #2 on my list -- underneath my Bible study work that I have also been neglecting. :(

So bear with me, whoever may or may not be reading this! Haha I'm still around. I'm just working on prioritizing my life, as always. :)


<3 Kaity <3

Procrastination

Well, here it is Thursday, and I have put NO thought into the blog post I wanted -- and want -- to write. I have to leave for Bible study soon (which I also have put little effort into) but when I get back I will write a post. It will probably be terrible, but I need to. So I will. :)

That is, if I remember. =/

<3 Kaity <3

P.S.- On a side note, I have recently discovered an alternative/pop/indie artist named Chase Holfelder. I'm listening to him right now on Grooveshark, which made me think of it. :)

I was watching one of those military surprise-homecoming videos on Youtube last night because I was feeling sentimental (which is common for me :] ), and one of them used a song called "Something Real" by Chase Holfelder. So, in true "me" fashion, I looked him up on Grooveshark and made up a quick playlist of his stuff, closed out the songs that I didn't like when they came on, and Googled the lyrics to those that made the cut.

Most of the songs were actually from him and the band he fronts for, called The Mile After. I didn't like any of those, but he also made an acoustic album by himself, and I liked two songs from that album. One of them is "Something Real," which I've already mentioned, and the other is "Money is Not a Thing" -- which may as well be entitled "This Title Has Nothing to Do With This Song." Lol. :)

But in any case, they're both sweet songs. If you're reading this, you should look them up. :)

Update.

This week has been crazy! No good blog posts this week for me. But, seeing as I want to make a habit of blogging anything that's something, here it is: My Blog Post.

Okay, I guess I can at least say this: I've come to realize recently -- meaning over the past... year or two? -- that I am a very effective time-waster.

Ever since I've gone away to school, when I'm home with "nothing to do," I struggle with wasting time. I know I could clean my room, I know I could do the dishes (speaking of which, I need to go do them now), I know I could *ahem* BLOG, but what do I do? I sit around, footle around on Facebook (footle is my new favorite verb for spending time on Facebook :] ), play games, watch TV... you get the idea.

Lately I've been trying to spend more time reading, especially my Bible. And I've been trying to memorize Scripture, too. But it's been a rough go. I'll be all gung ho about whatever it is, and then a couple weeks in I'll fizzle out. It happened with my crocheting (though I did finally finish a project), it happens with almost every book I start reading, and it happened with my journalling and blogging. Why is that? Why do I always let myself fall into such laziness when I hate feeling so unaccomplished?

That's my thought for the day. Or more like for the year. I hope to flesh these musings out further in my next blog post. I don't have a day off till Wednesday, so I probably won't post it till later this week. But at least I managed to write this much, however pointless it may be. As my favorite writing professor Dr. Simons always told me, to paraphrase, "The best way to learn to be a writer is to write every day. It doesn't have to be good, it doesn't have to make sense... you just need to make it a discipline. Write every day." Well, I'm not writing every day, but once or twice a week is better than nothing at all, right? I think so. :)

And so until my next post, my dear Blog-Followers, whenever that may be. :)

<3 Kaity <3

Cuteness for the Day :)

Too cool for school. :)

My baby kitty! I miss her. <3

 (c) Kaity Taylor

"So I sing because I'm happy :: I sing because I'm free :: His eye is on the sparrow :: And I know He watches me."
~ from "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" -- Civilla Martin, 1905 ~

(c) Kaity Taylor

Prettiness for the Day

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." - Isaiah 40:8

(c) 2009 Kaity Taylor

"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy"

(c) 2009 Kaity Taylor