life with the tsengs

Is it too late in the year to start this?
I’m gonna go ahead and say – “no”. Never too late!

This year I read a really good book about digital minimalism (ever so conveniently titled “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport) and was inspired to lessen my overall screen time and seek to minimize my own personal digital intake. The author challenges you to do a 30 day digital declutter — the call is for you to break from all non-essential digital tools (social media, news apps, streaming services, etc.) and keep only technology that is truly necessary (e.g., email for work, navigation apps). There are many goals to this but the main purpose of this time is engage more fully with your real life in a life that has become so virtual-focused, to find connection/conversation outside of that which you find on the screen and to rediscover offline activities you enjoy. After the 30 day detox, you are welcome to re-introduce technology back — but encouraged to do so in an intentional way, and only to reintroduce the things that truly add value to your life.

For a few weeks I have been feeling very distracted.
I know that much of it may be due to the fact that this season of life of motherhood, working, volunteering at school and living life in church community can be a busy one… but I knew that largely my feeling distracted/clutter-brained/absent-minded/lacking soberness was moreso due to the fact that I habitually fill all my idle time with activities/distractions/scrolling that honestly add very little to my life. My own personal reflections and realizations on this will have to come at another time but long story short — I removed largely all non-essential apps from my phone’s main screen and have deleted all my social media apps off my handheld device (i.e. IG and FB) This is what my phone currently looks like. (sorry to my friends who get irked by unopened notifications lol..the text literally came as I took a screenshot.)

I know that people have mixed feelings — but personally, I love Instagram. I love sharing life and storing memories via IG stories and being able to see day to day llife snippets of all my friends/family throughout the day. However, I decided to remove it from my phone in hopes of quieting the noise and clutter of my mind/heart/attention. It’s honestly been great so far and really not that hard. I also realized that checking it via my laptop for the last 10-15 mins of the evening is sufficient to feel caught up/connected/up to date (l know that is completely obvious to some and you are probably like..”duh” but anywayyyyy) One thing I did miss though was being able to use IG (specifically IG stories) as a way to chronicle and save different moments/pictures of my day and life that I can look back on in future years via the archives… so to alleviate this – here I am! Who knows – maybe this IG break will pave the way for me to (finally, at last, after many failed attempts…) return to my other long-forgotten love — blogging! (For those new to my blog, I essentially blogged through my entire life from 6th grade all up until ~2019 — so yes, thru middle school, high school, college, nursing school, engagement, starting my first job, learning how to be a wife, entering motherhood etc –)

So since there are pics/updates I would have usually shared via IG stories – here are small snippets of our everyday life from this past week. Many of these may be very ordinary, not monumental updates or events in my life but I love celebrating and delighting and remember all the tiny mundane everyday moments. So honestly — this will be moreso for myself. and if anything, just for my own safe recording keeping! I also type the way I talk so I apologize to my friends who are english majors/teachers who are pained by my writing style lol. but again – this will be, more than anything, for me.

We shall see if I will keep this up this time around.. (though with my current record the last 5+ years…idk lol)

ANYWHO – this is a long-winded way to say, to my audience of 3 in this blogging community that I AM (hopefully/gonna try my best to be) BACK!

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Soooooo here’s what this week looked like:

This week started with a fun little staycation with some friends! It was so fun to see how much more independent our youngest littles were this time around standing in line together and going down the slides on their own! I barely got any pictures during our trip but I was able to snap this one on our first day — my matching cuties! (ALWAYS in bright colors so I can be able to see if they are in crisis needing saving at all times lol)

One of my recent loves this year has been making spicy raw marinated crab!! I had a small batch leftover so made a spicy Korean stew (꽃게탕) with the leftovers! It honestly looks better than it tasted (lol) I think maybe because of the amount of sugar that goes in the marinade..

also been trying to up my protein intake after my runs/workouts and this is always my fave: hard boiled egg with a ridiculous amount of black pepper. I sneezed like 3x in the car and also spilled so much pepper on my lap but WORTH IT

Got to be a chaperone for A’s school this week (my first time ever being a chaperone!). Went to Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach to learn about Native Americans and it was amazing. One of the highlights of the trip was watching the entire group make music with different things they didn’t want to waste — I think the word they used was that they practiced ‘reciprocity’ (i.e. turtle shells + oyster shell maracas and rubbing animal rib bones together lol)

Starbucks has a new thing going right now if you ‘dine in’ and order your drink in a ‘for here’ cup, you can get unlimited refills of iced coffee/tea/cold brew for however long you stay. I ordered an iced caramel macchiato (with my points aka free) for ‘here’ and then I got a iced coffee refill, and then a iced green tea refill while I was there and then left with my last drink to-go to bring home to Eugene. Felt like a major win in many ways – and then peed literally nonstop all afternoon

crazy + busy work day between appointments called for a mid-morning cafe run. I literally always get iced drinks but occasionally if I am camping out at a cafe, I will order hot because I love drinks in mugs ❤

was out on a short run and had to rush back to rescue our sun-bathing torties (tortoise babies) from the gardeners. we’ve had these babies for about 8 months now and we love them. their names are Sheldon (lol), Shelby (lol) and Tank/Split. More on them next time.

the bestest gift is an unexpected fresh-out-of-oven garlic focaccia from my fave @saradoughbakery.. had to eat it straight in the car and got judged by my kids — but it was DELISH

enjoying the last bits of chilly weather with hot pot at home (our favvvvve!) – with my new butane burner! (yay!)

my view from inside — of the kiddos doing shenanigans outside. I cant wait for lots of outdoor play this spring/summer!

Thankful. Hopefully can keep this going!
Cheers to a new week.

❤