Short Saturday Hike

Last Saturday, we decided to go to a short hike leading to a park.The trail is called Santiago Creek Trail .Hubs and I tried this path a long time ago (maybe 3 or 4 years ago) after dropping  the kids off  to school and it was so much different then.. There were mostly dirt roads for hiking and some biking for those who are into it.Today, the dirt path was mostly covered with shrubs and there was actually a nice pavement built for a smooth walk, with a few little trails here and there.

And our favorite bridge is still the same...We saw a few ducks playing in the small pool of water that had accumulated over the last rainy days and a few birds hiding underneath the bridge too..It was a good experience for the kids...

Spring is just around the corner......

Yes indeed!!!!! I could almost smell the flowers in the air.... and the weather had just been perfect over the weekend too.My Saturday hike and Sunday trip to Dana Point with the fam bam was fabulous! And there could never be a better day for me than Monday!!!!! Oh yes,.... I love Mondays because it gives me the chance to be quiet around the house, the chance to regain my inner composure and most of all, the chance to clean up after the mini tornado everyone leaves over the weekend..lol...

Literally, I am devoting the whole week to Spring Cleaning . I thank hubby for helping me out with 4 loads of dirty clothes and sheets off to the laundry over the weekend and for some help feeding our family with his love for cooking...;-) Also, in this mission , I am finally ( sob!!!! Its still hard for me to let go) letting go of most things that I have held on to for the last 5, maybe 10 years for that matter..Yeah, yeah... that is how sentimental and attached I could be...My zodiac sign is Cancer so there goes a few of my traits...

Back to Spring Cleaning... I have a huge list of things to do that when I even think about it, I am already overwhelmed. And to think that we only live in an apartment... how much more if we are in a big house???? tsk! tsk! tsk!!!.. I guess God meant for us to have a small space so we can better take care of everyone and everything without losing our sanity eh??? ;-)

Well????? Monday just started out quite good for me. Done taking care of toys laying around in some areas for sometime now, re- arranged furnitures ( with hubs help again!) last Saturday so we now have more room to move around.Checking our room and closet now for things that needs to be donated or toss away....so on... and so forth......

What about you guys????? Any ideas of what you have in store for Spring????

41st Annual Dana Point Festival of Whales

Hello everyone!!! This may look like its late but you have today, tomorrow and the the whole weekend next week to come and see this festival.I actually marked this on my phone calendar but totally forgot to share it here.. my bad :-( However, it is never too late to plan and talk it out with the rest of your family and drive on right??? ;-)
I especially love this mommy blog site, Daytripping mom, who is full of activities for the whole family either for free or for a minimal price.. With this economy, who would want to spend too much for FUN??? I think I actually met one of them when they sponsored a free Barbie Movie at Ultraluxe Cinemas at the Gardenwalk in Anaheim. Too bad I haven't gotten the chance to talk to her but maybe in her future gathering??? :-)
Anyway, feel free to check Dana Point Festival of Whales .

It is free, it includse an opening day parade,  art exhibits, classic car exhibits, paddling events, sand sculpting, concerts on land and water, environmental activities, educational opportunities, interpretive crafts, kids activities,Whale of a Block Party, and of course, whale watching!

We are definitely checking it out this weekend so see you there!!! :-)

Asian Food Splurge!!!!

Yesterday was a busy day for me.... Errands in the morning and more errands in the afternoon. Part of that errand was to go to the grocery store... And with the thought of Lent in mind, I decided to head off to one of my favorite Asian Market, 99 Ranch Store . Its been a while since the last time I bought groceries here,..mainly because you cant stop buying all these yummy goodies and ingredients and makes you want to eat more! Talk about losing weight eh??? ;-)
So anyway, I had a few pieces of recipes that I wanted to try out for this week.. And part of going here is the mission of getting large jumbo shrimps!!! Ummm... the thought alone makes me hungry already..

I only wanted to get fish, shrimps, longganisa, and a few other condiments... but guess what???? I got more than what I bargained-----
Oh well..... this should be good for the next week or two... What really made me happy though was the fact that I found ingredients for my soon to be foodies....

What more can I ask???? Just the time to make all these yummy menu .. Cant wait to post them here soon with their recipe of course! ;-)

On being "Au Naturel"

A long time ago, I have often thought about what it means to be real. Could it be real with your feelings and emotions?? Real with your thoughts? Real with your words?? Or maybe,... real with everything else around you....The word "real" is such a simple yet profound word.. How far can one go to the extent of being real????
In the eyes of a child, real is as simple as asking for things that confuses her, real is knowing that all questions have answers, whether it is right or wrong. And real is coming to terms with the simple pleasures of life...eating,sleeping,playing,etc.etc........
As we grow older, life becomes more complicated with society's rules. We try to live up to everyone's expectations. We live our life according to what our parents and our parents parent taught us... In other words, we become what society wants us to be..along the way, we get confused with the things that really make us , into the things that was structured for us.... If we are lucky enough,we break out of this cycle and find the path that truly define who we are.

Au Naturel for  me is simply going back to our roots. Meaning..... I am  finding joy in the simplicity of life by having the time to appreciate whats being laid out in front of me... From seeing my family's joy and frustrations,to cooking and baking to my  hearts desire, to sleeping, waking up and taking showers according to my own pace (;-D), to dividing my time to meet up with all the wonderful friends I have met along the way, old and new alike,to realizing that after all this time,simplicity and the truth about everything around you is the way to ultimate happiness and contentment.Accepting and knowing what my priorities in life are made me value everything that I have.I have come to realized that every individual live their lives according to their priorities and needs.I am thankful that I have been given the chance to spend more quality time with my family in this maddening stressful life called "living". No amount of money could ever exchange this opportunity.Sometimes, people wish they have more time or more money. Whatever the situation is, be thankful of what you have and really look deeper at what makes you happy and fulfilled..


 After all, according to Dan Shapiro, Life is a Choice...." Our first choice is to live our life as our authentic self, as the person we really are deep down inside. When we do that, we can access a grand library of all that is possible for us—the journeys through life that are right for us. This allows us to make choices that flow from who we are and what we can be. That’s when life works. That’s when a positive outlook can make all the difference in the world."

Au Naturel also helps me live my life as natural as I can possibly be.. I am now trying to incorporate natural and organic products in our lifestyle although I must say that my genes wont allow me to go 100% along the way. Being a Filipino, there are still days that I would crave for all those sweet, starchy,salty variations that I am used to....:-).. For now, I am just blogging my healthy discoveries one day at a time..... 

Family Hike at the Canyons

This weekend  is totally beautiful... The morning always starts as being cold and gloomy, which makes us want to not get out of bed but after a few hours the sun comes out and the weather becomes perfect... Almost telling us that Winter is coming to an end...
Me and hubby thought that it would be nice to let the kids out of the house on weekends. We thought of hiking as a start. We did this a  few weeks ago but had to stop for a bit due to our trip to Arizona..This may sound  nice but we have two kids who do not really like the idea to begin with :-).... Our daughter takes a short while to get used to it but then again,... she likes doing most things so it was not much of a problem. Thank God. Our son is the hardest one because he is at this point where his kind of fun is Video Games. Oh yeah.... the more reason why we have to bring him out of the house.The rest is all  about whining and grumpy face and a lot of coaxing... But that's when the adventure of this trip starts.....:-) :-) :-)

We can actually see that we are getting closer to the trail head!!!!

It's 10 in the morning and there are still different types of people hiking...

My family... resting before we head out to the trail head.. and this is just the starting point!

I have heard a lot about Peters Canyon Trail in Irvine. It took me a while to really check this place and I'm glad we did. The first time we came here, we parked waaaay out there that before we even reach the trail head, the kids were already complaining. This second attempt proved to be more fruitful!. We still parked quite in the middle but we were able to walk farther up into the canyons...A lot of people on such a fine day. Old, young, families, couples, students, bikers,...you name it...

Just  friendly reminder,..these are the things to watch for....;-)

                               And this...... First time I've seen how it look like.Interesting to see  things that you have to watch out for

I remember seeing a lot of this in the Philippines..

     

   

 

                                                            

   

Our DDD (diners drive ins and dives) discovery

The last weekend was a great time spent in Arizona... Not only was I there with my family but I was also there to meet a few of my best friends from high school.. Sort of like a mini reunion... As always the case, hubby and I never go to a place without having our food adventure ..
This time its from our favorite guy.... Guy Fieri ! The place was called Chino Bandido ... We got there 10 minutes before they open and the guy was kind enough to let us in knowing that we are from Orange County and was looking forward to get a taste of the fusion..:-)
We asked for their bestseller and decided to get three different orders to go..True to their fusion foodie, the place was a combination of asian, mexican and jamaican dudes... They were very helpful and accomodating with newbies like us. In the car, we were filled with the different island flavors of the jerk, the beans , the rice and so on and so forth...check this out!!!

Combo with Jade Red Chicken Quesadilla and Emerald Chicken with Jerk Fried Rice and Black Beans--the beans tasted different with some jamaican flavor, the rice was like a more exotic type of chinese fried rice, their salsa is totally different from the usual tomatoes- cilantro thing. This one was more like green onions with some kind of tangy flavor....Then we got the chinese emerald chicken and the chinese bbq pork... They were tasty as well. To top it all??? We got lucky to get snickerdoodles that was fresh from the oven, soft and very chewy!!!Lunch on the road.......