rain rain go away

It won't stop raining and we are trapped downtown as ChungShan N. Rd continues to flood.

ccc's sans chocolate

My right index finger is so sore from the constant downwards scrolling through interior design blogs, trying to find pictures that suit my "style" to send to my designer. We met today and agreed upon a suitable layout and now I'm nothing but excited. Around midnight, I unsuccessfully tried to satisfy a semi-craving for chocolate chip cookies by baking and following this recipe. Tried it once before and will never try anything else again. Mmmm mmm! 

Only to remember halfway through that I did not have any chocolate chips in my pantry. Just letting the batter chill and soak up all the goody caramely-ness till tomorrow.

still no stars tonight

Went jogging around the canal today as my mother and Andy's mother took their post-dinner stroll and talked about agriculture and fertile squash. After two earthquakes and several days of stormy weather, it's nice to see clear skies and people dancing by the temple again. Kind of lonely to be the only TMRC member back.

summer reading

Like my makeup, I feel like I should finish reading the books I bought in the past before I go out and purchase new ones. Most of the time, it's really too hard. However, I found a couple of rejected IBHL English books and a couple of novels I used to pretend to read during "silent reading time," unforgivingly stashed away in my over crowded bookcase.

I've already gone through Norwegian Wood and The Great Gatsby as well as three other books in my Kindle but am currently trying to make my way through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle because I really am obsessed with Haruki Murakami.

Though it means breaking my own rules, I'm particularly excited to order East of Eden from books.com.tw. It's quite difficult to find certain books when you're not in a country where English is fluent by all. 

Postojna Cave & Plitvice Lakes National Park

 Even against the harsh order of our tour guide, I purchased a box of fresh strawberries which I immediately devoured on my way back to our bus.

 We visited Postojna Cave where I made the mistake of wearing shorts and had to suffer a 20 minute ride around the interior of the cave and an additional 90 minute tour of the place. But the interiors were so grand and weird that it made it all worth it.

 The umbrellas reminded me of the multicolored popsicles I used to eat when I was a child. Always ended up with a strange colored tongue.

 An abandoned crate of cabbages on the street. We've been having a bowl of shredded cabbage with vinegar to start off every single meal. I am very sick of cabbage at this point. I would abandon this crate of cabbage too, if it were in my possession.

 Plitvice Lakes National Park

This is long overdue but I couldn't let these pretty pictures go unseen.
We went to so many other places but I don't even know how to start pronouncing their names.

croatia and vienna by instagram

It's one of those rare occasions in which I've encountered a faltering signal of Wifi from a neighboring coffee shop. But it's better than nothing.

Photos taken of great things but with small means. As my trip comes to an end, I'm sure I will come to miss the beautiful coastline view and romantic sunsets. Most definitely, I'm going to miss the breakfast of organic yogurt with fresh strawberriers and honey and the most beautiful bacon I've ever seen in my life.