Insta Lately: Vol. 12

How is it even possible that we're a week into January? The post-holidays syndrome is such a buzz-kill, isn't it? What's worse is that it rained all week here in San Diego, plus we received several tornado and flash flood warnings in between. It's insane! I haven't been this vigilant about the weather condition since I left the Philippines, where dealing with typhoons and earthquakes seem to be part of every Filipino's life.

We're OK, though, and I hope all of you stayed safe and dry.

Anyway, it's been over a month since I went to North Carolina with my auntie, so the first six photos in today's Instagram round-up were the only memories I have from my trip.

one. I traveled by myself for the first time in my life, and it's such a bummer that I didn't have my usual travel buddy a.k.a. Roan with me on this trip. I took this photo at the Newark Liberty International Airport while waiting for my connecting flight to Greensboro. | two. As soon as I landed in Greensboro, my auntie and I went straight to Earth Fare (similar to Whole Foods, etc.) to shop for my auntie's food. She has several food restrictions due to her allergies, so she's strictly eating everything organic. Anyway, it's my first time to see these cipollini onions, which are smaller, flatter, and paler than the usual white or yellow ones. | three. On our first day in Greensboro, my auntie briefly drove me around my other auntie's former neighborhood to show me their old house. We passed by the Oak Ridge Institute on our way to and from there.

four. This was my other auntie's old house in Oak Ridge. It was nice to see where my grandparents used to spend their time here in the US.

| five. I took this photo of the storage area's hallway after I packed and hauled my auntie's stuff into the U-haul van. It kind of looks creepy, no? | six. Took this photo at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport during my 3-hour layover on my way home to San Diego. I met a stranger—a lovely woman—from Buffalo shortly after this was taken.

seven. We found this gigantic pine tree in Palomar Mountain, which probably served as our inspiration when we got our huge [fake] tree for Christmas. Side note: We wanted to get the real thing, but since we live in a carpeted apartment, we decided against it. No one wants to deal with fallen leaves and damp carpet, yes? | eight. I shared this photo of Roan and I from our honeymoon in Krabi, Thailand to commemorate our second wedding anniversary. In all fairness to our tour guide who took this! On-point. | nine. I threw in another photo from our honeymoon, halfway through our climb up the 1,000+ steps to the Tiger Cave Temple!

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