#67 - Surf Somewhere New

While I expected to surf during this year's trip to Costa Rica, I assumed it would be at Jaco, where I'd surfed in previous years, especially after a rock had flown up at me on the highway, creating a small crack in the windshield of our rental car and thus creating a need to go Jaco at some point during our two weeks on Palo Seco. It turns out the process of filing for insurance coverage through my dad's credit card was, shockingly, a tedious one, so we didn't return to Jaco until it was time to return the car and head back to San Jose, where we'd spend a few days before traveling home to the cold.

Instead, the opportunity to surf came up a little more unexpectedly. My parents and I had over ten days at the house on Palo Seco, and I decided that was a bit too long without some adventure. I looked up areas nearby and suggested we take a day trip to Dominical, a small hippie beach town about twenty kilometers past Quepos, a small city we'd been to often. The day we picked to go, we delayed departing because it was drizzly, so there seemed no rush to get there. 

We arrived in Dominical, indeed a small hippie beach town, around 3pm. We found the local brewery, which was mostly open air but also strangely large for such a small town. Luckily, the weather had cleared up, so it was a pleasant afternoon to sit outside. I left my parents with drinks on the way and ventured down to the water... just to see. On my way to the ocean, I must have walked past at least six surf shops, which piqued my interest. When I got to the beach, I saw exactly what I'd been hoping to see: midsize waves filled with bobbing figures waiting to catch the next perfect swell.

The main stretch near the beach

Most of the surf shops were closed, and it looked like my last hope was closing at 4pm. I peeked in to ask, just in case, and no, she assured me, they were open until 5pm (with sunset being close to 5:30pm). Then, I learned renting a board for the day was just $10... American. And I just so happened to have a Hamilton right there in my wallet. She then offered to hold my stuff in their office, so I threw caution to the wind, texted my dad I'd be gone for about an hour, changed into my suit and rash guard (okay, maybe I did come prepared), and trudged out to the rocky beach with a nine-foot long board.

Honestly, my time at Dominical was probably one of the best surf sessions I've ever had, despite the less-than-ideal conditions. We were only an hour or so away from high tide, so the waves were breaking pretty close to a beach with very rocky sections that were not fun to land on or walk through on the way to deeper water and smoother sands. The waves were probably 4-5 feet. But I got up quickly and had some great rides, even feeling comfortable enough to go a bit deeper than I usually do and to really work on that intuitive feeling of dropping into a wave. 

Post surf marg

Plus, I've only ever surfed at beaches with vast stretches of sand that leads to a fairly flat stretch of land speckled with palm trees (and sometimes parking lots and vacation homes). At the break in Dominical, hills covered in jungle dive down to meet the beach, which was narrow at high tide, and people sat among rows and rows of palm trees. Beach goers, Volkswagon vans, and tents for camping were the only signs of civilization from the water. 

As I walked back to the brewery, happily exhausted from the waves, I also realized I was proud of myself for having such an adventurous spirit. I've sometimes been told I should be more careful as a woman moving about the world alone, especially in another country, but in both Barcelona and Costa Rica, I have had some of my best moments by shrugging my shoulders at those worries and embracing the opportunities in front of me. I think younger me would be really happy with that.

#12 - Practice Yoga 26 Times

Definitely going to do more this year, but a big THANK YOU to Stephanie for letting me know about the Down Dog app! It's such a happy medium for the type of yoga I like to do, while I look for a studio that fits what I want! I also love that I get to pick the length of time of the practice, length of Shavasana, and focus of the practice. Super happy to be back at it, even if it's taken me awhile to build up the length of my practice.

1 - 1/13/24 (5 minutes)

2 - 1/16/24 (10 minutes)

3 - 3/6/24 (60 minutes at The Ray)

4 - 3/8/24 (5 minutes)

5 - 3/25/24 (5 minutes)

6 - 4/3/24 (10 minutes)

7 - 4/12/24 (10 minutes)

8 - 4/15/24 (15 minutes)

9 - 4/26/24 (20 minutes)

10 - 4/28/24 (10 minutes)

11 - 5/30/24 (5 minutes)

12 - 6/10/24 (5 minutes)

13 - 6/25/24 (5 minutes)

14 - 7/2/4 (10 minutes via Down Dog)

15 - 7/12/24 (15 minutes via Down Dog)

16 - 7/15/24: (20 minutes via Down Dog)

17 - 7/18/24 (10 minutes via Down Dog)

18 - 7/21/24 (5 minutes)

19 - 7/24/24 (25 minutes via Down Dog)

20 - 7/29/24 (30 minutes via Down Dog)

21 - 8/1/24 (15 minutes via Down Dog)

22 - 8/3/24 (10 minutes via Down Dog)

23 - 8/8/24 (35 minutes via Down Dog)

24 - 8/14/24 (40 minutes via Down Dog)

25 - 9/8/24 (35 minutes via Down Dog)

26 - 1013/24 (20minutes via Down Dog)

36 - Get Another Tattoo

More than seven years in the making! Grace, Conor, and I finally got tattooed together!

Some things I find humorous about this are

• Grace and Conor had tattoos well before I ever did, and they both have more than me and bigger ones than mine. 
• At the same time, since around 2015, when I got my first tattoo, I've almost always had a next one in mind. (Still do.)
• It seems like they also almost always have a next one in mind.

So, there's been literally no resistance to this. It just took some planning. I'm so thankful that Conor booked us some time with his artist Joshua Blatchley at Wish Tattoo for a weekend when I was in town. Wish is a really gorgeous, peaceful space, and Conor even managed to get Josh to agree to fit us all in late on a Sunday, so I could fit in some surfing before needing to be out of the water for a bit. Brandon approached each of our pieces completely differently, based on our wishes for it, and I think we all ended up pretty happy with the result! 

Also, this week, just over two weeks since I got the new tattoo, I had someone guess incorrectly what it was. The convo went like this:

"Is your tattoo for Up?"

"Yes!"

...

"Wait... No! Not Up! It!"

I just heard a two-letter movie title and agreed.

But cheers to my new tribute to my love of horror and to two of the reasons I'm so thankful I did my doc program at USD! (That's you, Grace & Conor. Love yous.)

p.s. Also love to Windi for joining us for a delicious dinner at beforehand and keeping Grace & I entertained with PoGo trades and parties while we waited.

#23 - See a Concert at Ravinia

I can't believe I've never been to Ravinia before. 

For my Michigan friends, it's like the Chicago version of Pine Knob--except it's even easier to get to because here in Chicago, we have trains. It was just a (free) 30-minute Metra ride up to the park, letting us off right there.

Alicia and I went to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play a variety of Tchaikovsky (my favorite composter) pieces. We opted for the pavilion, though lawn seats (where you can bring your own or rent/buy chairs, tables, food, and drink) are a favorite. I'm kinda glad we did the pavilion though because I realized that for music I really want to pay attention to, I want to be able to see the artists.

They started with some of the Nutcracker movements. Then, after intermission we were treated to a concerto with a soloist on violin and then, the big finale: The Overture of 1812--with cannons. 

For a chunk of the performance, we were trying to figure out how the cannons came into play because, as you can see in the pictures, there isn't quite space for full-ass cannons on the stage. But, they were there! Just to the side of the pavilion. And they were loud. It was something totally different than any of the other symphony or orchestra performances I've ever seen before. Super fun, got everyone laughing and energized.

I had a great time and can't wait to catch another summer show there.

#5 - Run 101 Miles

January: 2.5 miles; 1 run; average 2.5 miles

1. 1/5/24: 2.5 miles in Uptown (2.5 total)

February: 0.51 miles; 1 run; average 0.51 miles

2. 2/20/24: 0.51 miles in Uptown (3.01 total)

March: 28.58 miles; 13 runs; average 2.20 miles

3. 3/1/24: 0.77 miles in Uptown (3.78 total)

4. 3/4/24: 1.24 miles in Uptown (5.02 total)

5. 3/9/24: 1.63 miles in Edgewater (6.65 total)

6. 3/11/24: 1.98 miles in Uptown (8.63 total)

7. 3/13/24: 1.43 miles in Edgewater (10.06 total)

8. 3/16/24: 1.68 miles in Pittsfield Township (11.74 total)

9. 3/18/24: 2.14 miles in Barcelona (13.88 total)

10. 3/19/24: 3.28 miles in Barcelona (17.16 total)

11. 3/21/24: 2.21 miles in Barcelona (19.97 total)

12. 3/22/24: 3.04 miles in Barcelona (23.01 total)

13. 3/24/24: 2.34 miles in Barcelona (25.35 total)

14. 3/26/24: 3.80 miles in Barcelona (29.15 total)

15. 3/31/24: 2.44 miles in Pittsfield Township (31.59 total)

April: 21.82 miles; 8 runs; average 2.73 miles

16. 4/5/24: 1.36 miles in Edgewater (32.95 total)

17. 4/6/24: 3.13 miles in Edgewater (36.08 total)

18. 4/8/24: 1.67 miles in Edgewater (37.75 total)

19. 4/12/24: 3.31 miles in Edgewater (41.06 total)

20. 4/17/24: 3.71 miles in Uptown (44.77 total)

21. 4/19/24: 1.68 miles in Edgewater (46.45 total)

22. 4/21/24: 3.06 miles in Uptown (49.51 total)

23. 4/28/24: 3.90 miles in Uptown (53.41 total)

May: 24.49 miles; 7 runs; average 3.50 miles

24. 5/3/24: 1.69 miles in Edgewater (55.10 total)

25. 5/4/24: 4.59 miles in Uptown (59.69 total)

26. 5/8/24: 2.06 miles in Uptown (61.75 total)

27. 5/12/24: 5.07 miles in Uptown/Lakeview (66.82 total)

28. 5/18/24: 5.32 miles in Uptown/Edgewater/Rogers Park (72.14 total)

29. 5/26/24: 5.85 miles in Uptown (77.99 total)

30. 5/31/24: 1.60 miles in Edgewater (79.59 total)

June: 15.83 miles; 7 runs; average 2.26 miles

31. 6/2/24: 3.22 miles in Uptown (82.81 total)

32. 6/9/24: 0.74 miles in Edgewater (83.55 total)

33. 6/12/24: 1.78 miles in Edgewater (85.33 total)

34. 6/21/24: 2.24 miles in Pittsfield Township (87.57 total)

35. 6/22/24: 3.64 miles in Pittsfield Township (91.21 total)

36. 6/25/24: 1.35 miles in Edgewater (92.56 total)

37. 6/28/24: 2.86 miles in Uptown (95.42 total)

July: 5.92 miles; 3 runs; average 1.97 miles

38. 7/1/24: 1.25 miles during an Orange Theory (Andersonville) class (96.67 total)

39. 7/3/24: 2.10 miles in Edgewater (98.77 total)

40. 7/10/24: 2.57 miles in uptown (101.34 total)

#39 - Help Someone With Their List of Goals

Curry fries at Wilde

I didn't even think of it until after the fact, but I got to help Grace with a few of her goals while she was in Chicago! 

First, Grace took me on one (or more) of her birthday dates for the year! I already posted about Kasama, which was also a foodie adventure, but we also went to "Clued In" at Second City, then Wilde, and then "Hitch*Cocktails" at The Annoyance, after the cast of Clued In invited us with a discount code. I was really bummed that Grace got sick, and we couldn't do as much as we wanted to do, but honestly, that Friday was a really, really good day. It was so much fun to take in so many delightful Chicago experiences, while catching up with my dear friend.

26 - Have a New Culinary Experience

I'm so grateful for my friend Stephanie, just in general but also for a great meal and great night at AJI Omakase.

I was trying to fit in some list items when Grace was in town, and when I was trying to describe what I meant by "new culinary experience," I used omakase as an example: a style of eating that I hadn't tried before. And Steph was like, "You've never had omakase?" And then, just a couple weeks later, she took me to Aji, and I learned the unsurprising lesson that I like omakase.

I love a meal when I don't have to choose, get to try a ton of different things, and each bite is different yet no less delicious than the last. 

I didn't get many pics of the space itself, but it's small, and there were just seven of us for the seating.

We had some saki and then started in on 15 courses.

It was fun to watch the board change, so we knew what we were about to consume, and to have Executive Chef Kristian Cho describe each course, while Sushi Chef Arnold Lee crafted each piece in front of us. Cho also answered our questions and pointed out special things about the fish or preparations.

Thank you for a super lovely night, Real Friend™!