NOVEMBER SUN

Last weekend my father took my family and I on a Saturday afternoon adventure by bringing us to a garden he used to go to as a kid. It was the most peaceful experience I had encountered in a very long time. Going out for me means being used to lots of noise in a busy city and I thoroughly enjoy the busy city kind of scene, but this was just what I needed after a week filled with lots of schoolwork and stress. There were small minnows in the streams and turtles basking in the sun on rocks, roses that smelled divine and the most beautiful sunset orange leaves on every tree. It is now Thanksgiving break, let's give it up for a week long break to catch up with life. 

DRABBLE NUMBER ONE

You know when the sun is almost down, or in the mornings when the sky brightens, gradually, of course, it's a process in which you have to be patient while watching, admiring. And as the light slowly intensifies, it casts a glow on any room with uncovered windows. Or sometimes when multiple curtains are drawn back, hanging in different places, it casts its radiance wherever it can reach. Arrows of light are on the wooden floors, the bed spread, on the clothes you were too lazy to put away last night, illuminating the room that once consisted of only darkness. 

AUTUMN IN THE BAY AREA

In the Bay Area weather is incredibly moderate. We don't really have a designated weather around spring, summer and autumn because they all blend together. Apart from winter, when it does get a bit more cold and windy than usual, it's mostly sunny in the Bay Area. I spent the day with my best friend and my family as we went to the pumpkin patch and made plans of painting them instead of carving them this year, and later went to the Navy Base to take some photos by the ships. This post gives me a very happy feeling so I will be making a more creepy, dark blog post that will be primarily about Halloween later this month. Enjoy this photos from this great day and go by yourself some pumpkins to paint!

HAIR TRAVESTY

I have been blogging quite often lately about occurrences in my life and exciting new things. This is not exciting. It's definitely new, but I am not happy. I got my hair cut. I like to think of myself as someone who enjoys trying new things and is a bit adventurous at times. Never mind all of that. My idea of a haircut was trimming my bob to under my chin and adding choppy layers to get rid of my mom-do hair. Well, my hair stylist wasn't too keen on listening to what I had to say and chopped all of my hair off to right under my ears and my bangs look even worse than when they were thick and long. I got out of the hair salon and as soon as I got into the car I was crying.

I know your hair shouldn't be your safety blanket, but mine has always been. When I had my unnecessarily long hair, people would always compliment it, when I cut my bob and bangs, people commented on how I looked 'cute' and I was good with that. If I had a bad outfit day or my acne decided to act up, my hair looked good so it was okay. Now, I'm insecure about my acne, body image and my hair. It's not a good feeling to feel uncomfortable in your own skin.

It hasn't even been a whole day and I've heard about a million people tell me, "It will grow back!" I am so tired of hearing that. My first reaction seeing my hair was "I look like a patient in a mental ward who cut her own hair without using a mirror." I am insecure and embarrassed. I rely on my hair so much. I know that in about a month I will be fine and semi-satisfied with my image, but a month is a long time. So for now, I will stick to wearing hats, or propping my glasses upon my head to somewhat cover the horrendous 'mental ward patient hair do.' So long, cute bob. 

LESSON LEARNED

I recently had these photos taken of me sitting on a roof of an auditorium at my high school. Yes, I understand that this is dangerous and I am very high up but I learned something this day. I only got on the ledge of the roof because I had to take a photo with a wide depth of field, and needless to say, I was terrified getting on the ledge. But once I was on it and focused, I realized how beautiful the view of my old city is, and that, as cliche as this sounds, I am not afraid of the heights, I am afraid of falling. So, there is one main lesson I learned this day with my photography, and my life in general; don't fall.

PERSPECTIVE

Today, I, unfortunately went through a very traumatic experience. I won't state the details because it's still a fresh wound, and I am an emotional person, but my brother, mum and I could have gotten in a very life threatening car accident today. Thank God, everything turned out alright and no one was injured, physically, but I am still incredibly shaken from the whole ordeal. Being in a situation where you legitimately think you are going to die, really does put things in perspective. It made me realize how thankful I really am for my family, my amazingly supportive friends who I could never thank enough, the fact that I live in a home and not on the street, that I don't have to fight for my education and that overall, even though I have my first world problems regularly, they always pass. I will remember this day, not to scar me, but to remind me that I have a good life. 

MY CITY

When you're born and raised in a city, your city, you forget to notice the beauty within it. You don't notice the old architecture of the buildings, or that Ice Cream shop that has been around since you parents lived there, or the bookstores that you take for granted, but others are smitten by. Yesterday afternoon, my best friend Nicole and I decided to go to our favourite cafe, Julie's Coffee and Tea Garden. Nicole doodled while occasionally drinking her coffee, while I wrote a short story, taking breaks to sip at my tea and scroll through Instagram. While we had that time to unwind after a long week, I realized how lucky we are to be living in such an amazing city. Not just because of the many little cafes and reading spots, but because of the people, the scenery and the diversity. As we finished up at Julie's we decided to walk around a bit, noticing a Beer Garden and other cute restaurants, those of which we had no idea were there in the first place. An extremely adorable shop, and although expensive, the prices are necessary, called Daisy's was about two blocks away and we decided to look around. It's gorgeous, to say the least. The owner, a very nice women obviously has some serious talent in the art of interior designing. Nicole and I couldn't resist and bought matching maps of Paris. Sadly, after our outing, I headed home and Nicole had to leave for dance class, but I don't think I've ever head such a satisfying day in my city. It's truly one of a kind. 

You can find more photos from this day on my Instagram and Nicole's Instagram.

NEW YORK

Two weeks ago I took my much awaited trip to New York! The trip started off on a stressful plane ride and somehow morphed into a soothing, nighttime car ride from Laguardia Airport to The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel. Of course, the next day, I met up with my long distance best friend, Anoula, her blog here, and she and her sister showed me around SoHo and gave me my first subway experience, which wasn't as different as BART, San Francisco's version of the subway. The next day we went to MoMA, until I had to say the dreaded goodbyes to Anoula and her sister. On my last day in the city, I spent some time in Battery Park and ended up going to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

My three days in Manhattan came to an end, and I was headed to the Hamptons to stay with my uncle for three days. (Thank you for letting us stay with you!) The time was spent wisely, swimming each day and eating an unhealthy amount of junk food and napping with the best dogs, Luca and Merry. It was gorgeous and peaceful, a great way to end a trip. Check my Instagram @shirgul to see more photos!