this morning

I live in the prettiest kitchen. Or rather, I spend so much time in the prettiest kitchen.

This morning in particular I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee in matching blue and white striped dishes.

I ate at the wooden table with my back to the window.

White flowers in a mason jar stood on the table near my arm.

I ate by myself and the quiet was perfect after so much stimulation and company.

And somehow coconut oil, a good nights sleep and a peaceful morning made my sunburn fade. I'm loving this American sun... but maybe just a little too much ;)

Only one more day here in California and I know just how much I'll miss it. 

Can't wait for Colorado though!

Picture taken by me on Beth's iTouch.

x, a

bliss

More than a week has already gone by. California has been so perfect. I'm just going to share a bit about what I've been doing and how good life has been.

Picture this.

Everyday I wake up and turn over to the California sun. I get out of bed when I want to and walk down the creaky stairs of this house that I get to call home for a while.

I sit down in the bright kitchen. Bright because the sun followed me down the stairs.

I look around for someone (most likely a cousin) who might have a cup of coffee and then I take the french press from them and fill my little, green mug. The one that I've used every Summer I've come back here for a visit. 

My backyard has a pool in it and a hot tub on the side. Throughout the day people go in and out of the pool and find spots on the hot concrete to lay down and gain back their brown skin. There is this one palm tree next to the pool that I constantly want to take a picture of. Last night as I sat in the hot tub while the sun went down, it stretched out against the blue sky and the moon stood still next to it. 

Clean, sweet smelling clothes (man this California air), dinners with the whole family, bike rides to Starbucks a block away with boy cousins, late night talks with big sisters whom I haven't seen in 8 months and this gorgeous house to live in and even lots of new friends... it all keeps me smiling.

I know the reason why I'm having such a good vacation too. It's because God loves to bless his kids and since I'm one of them, I'm blessed. Not that he doesn't give me bad days too and not that it's easy to feel close to Him daily (surely you know what I mean) but he's given me so much and he's made me feel so loved. 

Picture taken on Becca's camera. It was a rainy day but everything turned out perfectly. We were only missing one sibling. Andrew, we miss you!

Taken by Becca.

So yeah, I've been here 11 days and so far my theme word is bliss ;)

I'll try to be back soon with another blog post.

x, a

Summertime

 In just two days I'm off to America. I can't really wrap my mind around the fact that it's been a whole year since I've been there. It seems like yesterday that I was counting down the days until I'd see everybody there again. Sometimes time just goes by too fast. But at the same time, I like how fast it goes by because it makes the distance and the goodbyes not so hard. 

I'll be posting when I can but I'm not sure how often that will be.

I'll be on instagram (when I get there and get it on my iPhone), facebook and tumblr if any of you care to keep up with me though! ;)

I'm really going to miss Suzhou this Summer. It's been so beautiful around here and the longer I live here the easier it is to call it home. 

Summer ponytails. It gets so hot and humid here so I have my hair up for the majority of the day... which is okay with me ;)

 I hope you all have an amazing Summer and that you feel blessed to call wherever you live home. 

Suzhou, I'll be back in not too long ;)

x, a

p.s. this is where I'm headed! Pasadena CA. :D