A LITTLE ABOUT ME

 

Welcome to Leah’s cozy notebook. I created this blog as a personal journal and my own quiet space.

Leah’s Cozy Notebook serves as a memory keeper and photo album of all the pictures that I love to take. I blog because want to write about the little things that bring me joy.  My blog reminds me celebrate the smallest pleasures and happy moments that I share with my family and friends.  I blog about anything and everything about my life in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most likely you will read about Saturday date nights with my boyfriend/fiance, Mr Sweetie; sumptuous Sunday feast with my family as well as museum coffee dates with BFF. There will always be pictures of food that will guarantee to make you hungry. I practice gratitude with full awareness and I put down happy moments on paper. You will most likely find me taking pictures with my phone or Sony A6000 all over San Francisco.  I am slowly learning more about photography in my own terms (which is if I get to take a good photo, that is all that matters!).

“Leah’s Cozy Notebook ” is about me. It is my little space where I write about anything my heart desires. No pressure to follow a theme or a topic. On this blog, I can talk about anything that might be insignificant to everyone else but means the world to me. This is an “easy” blog. You might find my posts devoid of difficult topics or drama. I purposely created this space as such. LEAH’S COZY NOTEBOOK is my happy and safe place from the harsh yet beautiful realities that life likes to throw our way. It does not matter if the world finds me on this blog, or not. If you ever stumble upon my musings, you are very welcome and thank you. If not, this blog is going to be my best-kept secret and my hiding place.

Why “Leah’s Cozy Notebook”? — It is simple! I live in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area where we are blessed with delicious farm to table meals where almost everyone is passionate about food, and living a sumptuous, cozy and delicious life everyday.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

I am Filipina-American.  I am an old soul with a youthful attitude towards life. People mistake me for someone much younger.  My work involves fighting for social justice and the oppressed. Thus, I created this blog so I can lighten up my world at the end of the day. While the blogging world seems to belong to 20 year olds, I want to claim a piece of it to show that life can still be beautiful and fun at any age.  I do not have children but I am crazy in love with my  nephews and niece who are growing up too fast. And I am a cat-mommy to a fat, schmoozy Siamese kitty.  And why just photos of my back? I am shy and I am private. I prefer to be mysterious. 🙂

HOME SWEET HOME IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA I live in North Oakland but  spend most of my waking hours in San Francisco where I work. I live in a cozy house across the Bay Bridge with my BF and fat Siamese cat. We live in North Oakland which is about less than half an hour away from San Francisco (on unusual days where there is no traffic), and few blocks from Berkeley (the home of University of California Berkeley). I just love our home. It is cute, warm and full of character. Built in the 1920’s it has hardwood floors and brick fireplace that we love to light up on cozy chilly nights. Our house is surrounded by big trees and fat squirrels love to play in our little backyard (and sometimes we get a visit from raccoons and possums, too!). We live  just a block or two away from wine bars and farm-to-table restaurants. We really enjoy living in this vibrant neighborhood.

SATURDAY DATE NIGHTS My BF (let us call him Mr. Sweetie on this blog because he is really a sweetheart –most times than not!) — are inseparable outside of our work hours and truly have fun together. We have been going out on date nights since we started out over 10 years ago.  And we still go out very Saturday, have traveled the world together and love staycations if we can peel ourselves off the couch on weekends.  After years of fancy date night dinners, nowadays our sectional couch is our favorite spot on evenings and weekends, and pj’s are our preferred non-work attires. About 2 years ago, we simplified our lives and decided to  stop joining the foodie craze here in the San Francisco Bay Area and just eat what our tummies crave for at that moment. No more chasing after the latest food hype. We still go to a new restaurant that we have not been to each Saturday.  Once in a while we might do some fancy schmancy fine dining but most of our date nights are casual that require no efforts except to leave the house to hunt for the next yummy eats.   This is easy to do where we live because there are thousands of restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, and new ones pop up almost every week.

What I Love

1. Solo moments cozying up at home in my pj’s
2. My mommy and daddy
3. Saturday brunch tradition at home with the BF
4. Our Saturday Date Nights 
5. My family and our after church Sunday lunches
6. Fun phone calls and exchanging texts with my sister and sister in law
7. Giving my nephew Gabriel a big hug
8. Seeing my nephews and niece every Sunday; hugging and kissing them make me happy
9. Hearing my baby nephew Jacob laugh
10. Going to church every Sunday and worshiping God in music and prayers
11. Real printed BOOKS! Getting lost in a good book and finishing a good one
12. My collections of books on Kindle
13. Changing of the seasons
14. Celebrating the seasons with BFF 
15. Museum coffee dates with BFF
16. Lunch dates in San Francisco with friends
17. My job, co-workers and my breathtaking workplace
18. Taking pictures of everything!
19. Fall! Everything about fall!
20. Christmas and the magical Christmas in San Francisco
21. Exploring the nooks and crannies of San Francisco
22. Living in North Oakland
23. Spending an entire day cooking up a storm in my kitchen 
24. A quiet time to write
25. Jazz and music that touch the soul
26. Freshly baked pastries from the most delicious bakeshops in the Bay Area
27. Trips to the Napa Valley
28. A good bottle of red wine
29. Intoxicating bubbles 
30. Lighting the fireplace on a chilly night
31. Cold weather
32. Driving my Jeep Renegade
33. Staycations
34. Cruising along the beautiful California coast
35. Hot crusty sourdough bread
36. A cheese plate
37. Dark chocolate
38. Dark mint chocolate
39. Black coffee
40. Sometimes with flavored coffee creamer
41. A big pot of tea
42. My favorite tea cup and saucer
43. Quiet moments
44. Romcoms on Netflix
45. Repair days where I stay home in my pj’s, eat eggs on toast, drink coffee, read, watch a movie, bake, cook, take pictures of my food and blog about them.