Our Old Courthouse is a very very very fine courthouse

Click here to read my latest article in the November issue of The O.C. Gazette. I had the privilege of writing about the Old Courthouse, the oldest court building in Orange County.

This is my first history piece for the magazine and I had a great time taking a couple of trips to this beautiful building and learning all about it. The structure itself was fascinating to explore, but learning about all the landmark court cases and movies filmed there was what really intrigued me. There are remarkable stories everywhere, aren't there? I wonder how many we miss because we're not looking for them...

A Sweet Gift

My friend Nicole, for no reason at all, bought me a beautiful quill pen made with a fancy peacock feather and an inkwell.

"Every good writer needs a quill pen," she told me.

My heart exploded a little bit when she said that.

I'm thankful for my dear friend.

Be Happy

One of the thing I love about my friend Kylie is how adept she is at asking questions. Girl could have her own talk show. She desires to know and love people, and one of the ways she does that is by asking fun questions that are disarming, yet often provide a portal into deeper conversation.

One day, Kylie asked me, "When are you most happy?" and it really got me thinking. What makes me happy?

Well…there are a lot of things. I mean, I’m a pretty happy person and generally find joy from simple things. I am happy after I make myself work out and let myself use my "good" (read: expensive) shampoo. I'm happy when I hit green lights all the way home. I'm happy when I find a forgotten twenty dollar bill in a pair of dirty jeans that have been scrumpled up on the floor of my room for two weeks. And I'm happy when Disneyland starts selling pink peppermint stick ice cream at Christmastime.

But I don't think I would be capable of experiencing real happiness in life if it was void of relationships. Although I’m an introvert to the core, Kylie reminded me that people are who make me happiest. I'm most happy when Mark, the manager of the Starbucks I frequent, comes out from behind the bar to hand me my tuxedo mocha and give me a hug. I'm most happy when my dad e-mails me that he's "just checking in" because he's thinking about me. I’m most happy when I’m laughing so hard with a friend that tears stream down my face, or when tears of sadness are comforted by a tender hug. Happiness isn't just best experienced when shared with others; others are often the source of life's happiness.

Kylie, the answer is people: I’m most happy when I’m talking with, listening to, learning from, encouraging and being encouraged by, and loving and being loved by people.

What about you? When are you most happy?

What Dreams May Come...

I found this bedding at Anthropologie. It's printed with collages of handwritten love notes and letters dating back to the early 1900’s that were found in a hatbox in a vintage shop in Brooklyn.

You know how much I love handwritten notes and correspondence...right? How much paper and any form of the written word romances my soul? Like, we've been over this? You know how much I love sloppy scripts and precise penmanship? Smeared ink and crossed out spelling errors and postage stamps?

Okay. Good. So now that that's established, would you please buy this bedding for me?

I sure would enjoy resting my dreams on a slew of love letters every night...

Be-Twitched

According to a seemingly legitimate medical-ish website (although my ability to read is being challenged at the moment, so I don’t really know), there are eight common causes that trigger eye twitching, which I have been experiencing the inconvenience of for about two weeks now.

They are the following:

• Stress
• Tiredness
• Eyestrain
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Dry eyes
• Nutritional imbalances
• Allergies

Seeing as how I don’t drink alcohol, everything else could be a potential trigger.

Which is great to know, I guess, except I’m not really sure what to do now. Eyepatch? Decaf pumpkin spice lattes? Visine? Less facebook?

I tend to diagnose all of my health problems via websites and the Discovery Health Channel, whine incessantly to everyone, and then just not do anything about them.

So…do you have any eye-deas?

The Blog is Back in Town

I miss blogging. I can't believe it's been so long since I've written a post of substance or interest. Shameful.

And I want to apologize to you, my readers, for the neglect, even though I'm not really under the delusion that anyone really reads my blog except my dad (Hi Dad. I love you. Go Phillies!). But if you have indeed missed my blogs, I am sorry, and I want to assure you that I will be blogging more regularly now.

One reason is because I actually got a new laptop! His name is Ishmael. The last one I used was a high school graduation present. (I graduated in 2001. That means my old laptop is nine years old. In computer years, that's, like...nine years old.) Not having a good computer definitely hinders one's ability to blog. I am loving the Ish.

Another reason is because I want to and need to write more. I have been thinking about some goals that I want to achieve, and one of them involves improving my writing skills. It's a craft--an art--and I need to do it as much as possible if I want to be good at it.

And lastly...I love writing and blogging and have genuinely missed it. So, Dad, even if you are the only person who reads my blog, that's fine with me. Stay tuned...