runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Next to the last day



One of our neighborhood groceries has a Starbucks coffee kiosk thing and I didn't realize it until I'd been here a year or so.  Since I have found this little tiny coffee kiosk I have been stopping 3 mornings a week for a small coffee for the drive into work.  I started working last October and now we are in July so I have been stopping quite a bit.  In my own defense, I pack a lunch to work and I am buying the smallest size coffee they have which has gone up to $1.97, so I feel like I'm not spending a ton of money. 

I have often complained that this is the slowest coffee place on the planet and why don't I open a coffee shop but it seems like too much work so instead I wait in line and complain liberally.  Oh and have I also mentioned that they always run out of dark roast coffee right when I get to the register?  I worked at a coffee house, just put my cup under the stream of brewing coffee, I don't care if it is too strong or too weak!   Anyhow, after 9 months of buying coffee 3 days a week and waiting forever the lady behind the counter today remembered what I was ordering and was super proud of herself.  She then said, "now I only have to memorize your name".  

Since I'm not one to pass up a good opportunity for a positive reinforcement I tell her that my name is Joy that tomorrow is my last day of work, so I will not be seeing her 3 days a week.  She looked crestfallen for a moment but then she perks up, "are you going to be working somewhere else?" to which I replied, "No, but great job on remembering my coffee drink."


Monday, July 27, 2015

Pho

My family loves Pho.  We love Vietnamese food, Thai food, Chinese food, Korean food, Japanese food, Indian food, Middle Eastern Food, Mexican food, Italian food, you name it, we like food.  And while I love going out to eat at ethnic restaurants and trying new things, we have now been living in a what I like to refer to as a "void of ethnicity" or at least within a 30 minute driving distance.  Gone are the days of heading out 2 miles from home for some steaming noodle soup or walking up the road for Korean BBQ or the best, going to a food court that allowed one person to get Chinese noodles, one person to have sushi and the other to have braised short ribs.  Oh the luxury that is Santa Clara, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and San Jose.

Thanks to the wonders of the World Wide Web, I can order all my ingredients on Amazon.com, and then I can then head over to Youtube and watch an authentic meal prepared.  It has really become my "go-to" in times of living in rural North Carolina.  And I have really perfected some great dishes that might even pass for authentic.

Of course it helps that I love to cook and consider 4 or 5 hours in the kitchen on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon as therapeutic and enjoyable.  I know that there are those of you that cringe to read that sentence but it is true, I love to cook and create dishes.  So I definitely suggest if you hate cooking, stick to eating out.  Which is what we did Saturday night, we took my niece out to try Pho and while she didn't have the soup, she had some kind of charred meat with rice and loved it.  She stayed away from the fish sauce and the fresh salad rolls but she liked everything else.  We are giving her a real international flavor tour.

Here is what my soup looked like for those of you that love to see what folks are eating.

Enjoy!


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Piano

My kids both play the piano.  They take lessons about 10 months a year with a break around the holidays, a break at the beginning of summer and then a short break right before school starts.  They don't always like the piano but I like that they are continuing a tradition of Kim kids playing the piano.  I know they aren't Kims but I am a Kim and so I get to choose.

I was talking to a lady at the pool last week, a friend of a friend who explained that her kids no longer took piano or instrument lessons in general and why when they got older and wondered why they didn't play instruments that it would boil down to them not practicing.  She said she got tired of pushing them to practice.

I thought about it later because I was not given a choice on taking piano or on practicing and when I complained about it, nothing changed, I still took piano.  And when I was older, I took the violin.  And then I moved on from the violin to the cello.

The only reason my kids play the piano is because I tell them they have to practice, just like I tell them they have to do their homework, just like I tell them it is time for bed.  I get it, kids don't like to practice, it is hard, it is boring, it isn't always fun.  But the end result is, they both can read music, they both can play with two hands, they both are really talented with music.  Playing the piano has helped them develop their music ear, helped them learn to sing on key and is helping them learn how to harmonize.  It is helping them become ambidextrous, it is helping them learn how to develop their hand/eye coordination, it is giving them something they will always be able to do. But I am the boss and while I don't care what they wear to school, I am going to continue to make them practice and take piano lessons as long as I am their mom.

And I don't care how much they dislike it, they will have to do it until I say they don't have to.  Or until I'm bankrupt.  Whichever comes first.


Monday, July 20, 2015

Notice

I am having a hard time believing that it is already July 20th but that is what the calendar says.  I put my notice in at work, since I only work 3 days a week, I gave them 3 weeks notice instead of 2.  My last day is July 29th.  I have had a hard time coming up with things to blog about because quite honestly not  a lot of exciting things have been going on.

Last weekend me made a whirlwind trip to Charleston, SC and the city has topped my list of favorites.  It is charming, quaint, tiny, beachy and lovely all around.  If you haven't seen it, it is a perfect combination of Caribbean charm meets European style complete with cobblestones and steeples.  If it hadn't been 99 degrees and high humidity I might have wandered the streets all day.  Instead we explored to the sounds of two very whiny and tired children.

I have hit my swimming goal for the summer and am doing 25 laps in an easy 35 minutes.  I can't say that the waist line is any slimmer for all the swimming but my lungs feel great and I sleep like a baby.

My garden is a great success and I wish I had planted more things.  I have tomatoes galore, zuchini that is bigger than I've ever seen and habanero, jalapeno and thai chilies coming out of my ears.  Just not sure what to do with the fiery hot peppers at this point, maybe I need to google some recipes.  I have not had to water the garden thanks to all the rain and I have not had deer or bugs consume my produce.

The McKeons are descending next week on North Carolina for a weeks vacation the following week in South Carolina and we cannot wait.  We miss all our West Coast family dearly so this is a wonderful end of our summer vacation and a way for the cousins to hang out and play and play and play.

For someone who doesn't have a lot going on - I managed to have a lot going on.  To quote another great writer "Life seems but a quick succession of little nothings" (Jane Austen).