Posted on May 13, 2016May 13, 2016 in beach, meadow, mountains

Good Talks

Santa Barbara, California

Growing up in a town like Santa Barbara, many of the activities are based on the natural environment. Usually when it’s a sunny weekend, you would find me and my friends lounging at the beach. When it is chilly, I’ll be dancing on the top of a mountain.

Pictured above are my friends Bella and Grace picnicking after school at a local park. This day was a few weeks ago and it was spontaneous. I was getting home from school and my friend Bella texted me and asked if I wanted to meet me at the park close to my house. It was a little bit of a surprise, but I had a good time. I have already done a blog post on this magical park and I recommend checking it out ( https://inchartopia.com/2016/04/20/queen-of-the-woods/).

We spent a long time at the park, climbing trees, and enjoying our surroundings after a long day at school. I felt at peace. We sat in the long grass and talked about things we want to do in our lives and things we dislike in our lives. I realized then that nature does not only make me and others happy, but also brings people together.

Some people feel that coffee shops are the best place to hang out and talk to someone, but I disagree. When you hike with someone up a mountain, that is when the good conversions start flowing. They may be all complaints about the dust or blisters, but sometimes after you have been hiking for a hour and so and you are so done, that’s when one becomes vulnerable. That’s when the good talks happen. And then you wonder why does this matter? As you know, we live in the age of technology. It’s a great thing to be able to send a message across the world in a second, but there are also some problems that come with it. This problem is the lost of physical connection. We are so into with saying “what’s up” over text with the answer of “I’m good! wbu?” The end of the conversation. Done. Nothing else.

vsco-photo-3 — At the beach with my friends

So instead of just texting someone this weekend, go out of your way and take a friend to a park or on a hike and ask, “What’s up?”

In person.

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Much Love and Peace,

Charlotte

Posted on May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 in meadow

Nothing Gold Can Stay

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“Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay. ” -Robert Frost,

Summerland, CA

This morning I woke up at 6 am anxious. I got myself together and booked it to my favorite coffee shop, The French Press. While I was ordering my ice coffee the lady taking my order asked me what I had planned for the rest of the day. I answered with a simple reply of I am taking an AP Computer Science test. Her facial expression changed quickly from a tired gaze to a short laugh, then a “glad I’m not you” look. She handed me my coffee as if she gave me gold. After that I was off and on my way hyped on a bagel and caffeine.

About four hours later I finished my test and as Shakespeare puts it, “Twas’ a rough night.” (Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 4), but it wasn’t night. It was bright and early in the morning. I just thought that quote was relatable. Computer science is hard, but most of the time I have fun with it. Even though I feel like I failed the test, I am proud that I did it. I felt like a queen after taking the test, I hugged all my friends as if I just won a battle.

To celebrate, my friend Kelsey and I left school . We went to the beach. As I felt golden, the sky was gray. We left the gloomy beach after drinking our oreo milkshakes, and headed to the mustard greens meadow in Summerland, just south of Santa Barbara. I did a blog post about this yellow magical meadow earlier. But this was earlier, and now most of the leaves were brown. There was a small patch of yellow left in the meadow. I savored the last of the golden field and ran around through the tall weeds without luckily getting stung by a bee for hours. It was a nice celebration to be there after taking that test in the morning. Nature is always a party

It makes me sad to see the meadow turn brown, but it reminds me of the Buddhist term, impermanence , which basically means nothing is forever and to enjoy the beautiful things in life for the moment.

Much Love and Peace,

Charlotte

Posted on April 28, 2016April 28, 2016 in travel

Because of Them

1988 - Yosemite - Whitney, Soma, Russ, Kerryn

The “Hippie” School

I crawled out of my tent as the sun creeped over the horizon. My legs were covered in bruises, scraps, bug bites, and not to mention insanely sore because the day before I biked 53 miles up and over a mountain. I was 14 years old, and this was a normal day at school for me. Last year I graduated from an experimental/ outdoor education school, Santa Barbara Middle School. Overall, we were out of the classroom for over 30 days of the school year from backpacking in Catalina Island to biking through dust storms in Arizona to swimming in the lakes in Oregon. It was the best thing for a kid growing up to experience, being pushed mentally and physically in a loving community of people of support who you are.

We got the reputation as the “Hippie School” just cause the teachers didn’t believe in conforming to the “norms”. Why should we when there is a whole world out there to explore and learn from? Let’s go back in time starting from the 1970s to see how this school became a close community of learners and how they taught me to Carpe Diem.

1987 Hutch and Robin 1991 Matt & Elio

The year was 1976. Some people came together, as the school’s website (sbms.org) puts it, “…sought to create a school that would combine an innovative, challenging academic program with an environment responsive to the many needs of adolescent students.” Their wishes came true with hard work. The crazy thing is these people who had this dream of creating this school and made it happened, were some of my teachers, 35 years later. The first picture of the four people taken in Yosemite in 1988, on the far left, is Whitney. Whitney is still the Director of Admissions, and the lady who accepted me into the school 3/4 of the way into the school year. A true savior. I came from another school that was not a good fit for me. SBMS instantly felt like home and even when I go back and visit it feels like I never felt.

Two from the right in the picture, was my math and science teacher, Russ. I am very lucky to have had him as a teacher. I have never witness a teacher to love the subject they were teaching as much as Russ does. I remember he told our class to read the Physics textbook for the fun of it because thought it was an interesting. As I may disagree with him, I do respect his passion for teaching math and science, and also for teaching me to notice small, intricate things nature can create like leaves that can be so beautiful.

1987 Driving home over the Golden Gate Bridge 1987 Six O'Clock Sunrise Swim

As this is hard to wrap up, since I have so many stories and things to say about my experiences of biking, backpacking, and camping with this school, I would like to finish with the quote I said at graduation that sums up most of my experience (also one of my favorite quotes):

” Peace comes from within, do not seek without.” -Buddha

Think about that quote. What does it mean to you?

1979 new 1980 Petula and INa

Much Love and Peace,

Charlotte

♥︎

*All pictures are taken by SBMS alumni (www.sbms.org)*

Posted on April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 in travel

Groove Streets

New York City, New York

As I blasted the song “Empire State of Mind” out of the small window of my sister’s even smaller, but amazing, well lit, 5 story walk up apartment, I smiled. It’s been a year. A year since I have been back in the city and I was happy to be back. It was a short trip of three days that consisted of food, walking, watching my sister act in a play, partying, and eating more food.

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Though I do favor places with forests and mountains to hike, New York City holds a special place in my heart. I think why I love it is because it gets me in the groove. The “groove” in the sense of creativity. It a place that is exploding with art, and culture, and cool people. I walk down the streets and see one person in head to toe off-the-runway outfit, and another person in CRAZY vintage finds. I have a passion for doing art, (especially drawing and installations) and New York gives me that new inspiration for what I want to portray as a girl growing up in this eccentric cultural world!

Something I recommend doing in New York is taking a walk by yourself after you have woken up and take a coffee run. Not an actual run. It’s just a term. The mornings in the city is a time of bustle, but it is fun to see. Everyone looks like they have an important place to be while they fast walk or hail down a cab. Third Rail coffee is a coffee shop my sister recommended to me and now I am recommending it to you because it’s great. It’s the classic New York semi-hipster coffee shop with yummy almond milk cappuccinos. Yes, they have almond milk. Score.

Below is a picture of the best cupcake shop. EVER. Get the PB&J cupcake. Trust me. I’m not even going to try to describe its beautiful taste.

As I did recommend walking alone, this is because for me that is how I take the most in. It’s like a solo joy ride in a Porsche.

Just to add another reason I love going to New York is because my sister lives there! She currently is a sophomore at New York University and is killing it in the city. She has had a yearning for NY since she was young, so her passion definitely influenced my love. I hope for one day to live with her in her lovely little apartment and either go to college their or do something in New York. Hope to be back soon.

Now I am home and ready for the next adventure,

Stay tuned for next week!

Much Love and Peace,

Charlotte

Posted on April 7, 2016 in mountains, travel

White Out

Mammoth Mountain, California

Spring break came and went last week. It seemed like just a blink of an eye, but at least I got to enjoy it in the snow! I took my friend Kelsey, got the skies, and embarked on the seven hour car ride from Santa Barbara to Mammoth Mountain.

I have been going to Mammoth once a year since I was young. It doesn’t have a glamorous town like Aspen, but that is why I like it. I love the casual vibes and the homeyness of the whole place with families roaming around. Over the past few years, I feel that the restaurants have improved a lot. On this trip I stayed at the Village Lodge Condos. It was super convenient that my condo was right next to the gondolas that take you to the ski areas. A ton of people from Santa Barbara up at Mammoth, so it made it even more fun. A ton of people from my town go up there on breaks, or even weekends. I call it “Santa Barbara in the snow.” Below is a picture of my friends from Santa Barbara and me I ran into while skiing the slopes. What a small world!

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Out of my days skiing, the first one was the best. It was in the upper 50s (warm!) and the snow was not that slushy for that warm of weather. I put a light jacket on and hit the slopes. I stayed towards the bottom of the mountain, since my friend is at the beginner level. I didn’t mind it though because I was still able to practice some skills on the easier runs.

On the second day, I woke up to a new layer of snow covering the area. The bad part was a wind storm arrived as well. My dad and I were the only ones who wanted to ski in the windy extravaganza. Not many ski lifts were open, but we still thought it was worth the shot. I took the picture above to show what it looked like: a blizzard. Plus, the snow was iced over, which is not enjoyable to ski on. I was lucky though for the good ski days!

Looking forward to be back in Mammoth next winter! Hope everyone else had a great spring break:)

Now I’m back in school super excited about prepping for my AP tests.

not.

Much Love and Peace,

Charlotte

Posted on March 11, 2016March 18, 2016 in travel

Secret Gardens

new pic

“Is the spring coming?’ he said. ‘What is it like?’… ‘It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine, and things pushing up and working under the earth.'”

-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Summerland, California

I have saved this quote for awhile and I felt it was the time to use it because it is now March and it feels like spring. A slight storm came in and brought gloom to the sky, but the flowers and grass were vibrant and growing above the ground with little birds searching for pollen. It was a true spring day. On this day, I drove south to the small town of Summerland, California. It is a small, happy, and sleepy with cute local shops with all sorts off knick knacks like any other small California beach town.

What makes this places more special than other towns is this place towards the end of the main street (Lillie Ave.) called, Sacred Space. Sacred Space is technically a store, but it is more like a meditation garden with the influence of Buddhism. It is like how a Buddhist temple can have a gift shop, but the more important thing is that it is a temple. I want to put out there that I do not feel that my pictures below show the beauty of the place.

My camera did not like the fog.

Jameson at front entrance of Sacred Space

Jameson and I walked around the grounds of Sacred Space, which is small, but lots to see. Sprawled upon the bamboo, palm trees, and succulents, are Buddhas. Buddhas everywhere. There are also some other spiritual figures like the Hindu god, Shiva and Vishnu. Once we walked around and admired the place, we settled down on the couch under a cabana type of thing (pictured on the right-back below).

In front of the couch is a table with a journal. If you flip it open you will see quotes, journal entries, drawings from people have come to Sacred Space. The journal is my favorite part because people write in the journal about how thankful they are. Definitely check out the journal at Sacred Space.

It’s dope and inspiring.

After are time at Sacred Space we went up the road for a new adventure…

The mustard field (pictured above)! I can’t explain how I exactly got there because it’s sort of confusing, but this place is so BEAUTIFUL, nothing like it. It’s a massive piece of land filled with flowers! In this time of age of sky scrapers and concrete, sometimes it puts you in shock to see a place like this. It was my first time going to this field in Summerland and not my last! If you really want to know where it is ask me in person or comment below and I will give you the best directions I can:)

HAPPY ALMOST FRIDAY!!!

Have an adventurous weekend.

Go take a hike, I dare you.

Much love and peace,

Charlotte

P.S. Be a super cool, awesome person and follow my Instagram! @chartopia_ @chartopia_ @chartopia_