Author: lorisandoval

Explore Portland, Oregon: Eats & Drinks – Beer, Desserts & Coffee

Food, Oregon, Portland, travel
PORTLAND EATS, CONTINUED

Hi everyone! Welcome to part two of all things food & drink in Portland! Since the last post was long enough, I decided to save all the fun stuff for this second post. So, if you wanna know some places to satisfy that sweet tooth craving, grab a beer or meet a friend for coffee, keep reading!

DESSERT

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, don’t worry. There are plenty of options in the city to grab a dessert. The three places we visited were Salt and Straw, VooDoo Donuts and Blue Star.

Salt and Straw has a few locations in Los Angeles, so we had already been before. Being that it’s originally from Portland, we had to visit one of the shops in town. I had talked to the girl working there and asked if their ice cream was any different than the LA locations. She told me that the Portland locations use different, local, ingredients than those of the LA locations. This justified my reasoning for going, as if I needed justification for ice cream.

They had just launched their October flavors, Halloween themed of course. The two flavors I chose were The Great Candycopia and Dracula’s Blood Pudding. The Great Candycopia is filled with Halloween candy. I believe she had told me that there were 6lbs of candy in each batch? I can’t remember exactly but it was a crazy amount of candy. Dracula’s Blood Pudding was a chocolate based ice cream blended with fall spices, morcilla sausage, and some chicken liver. Yes, it did have real blood in it. No, it was not disgusting. It was actually really delicious and no one believes me!

If you’re in the Portland or LA area, I’m sorry it’s too late to try these flavors. Don’t worry though, Lyle had some of the Portland classic flavors, cinnamon snickerdoodle and Coava coffee & cocanu craque! They bake all of their snickerdoodle cookies in their SE Portland kitchen, so you know they’re extra fresh and delicious. The Coava coffee ice cream is made from cold brew from Coava Coffee Roasters, sweet cream and handmade chocolates. Lyle is willing to go as far as saying it’s the best coffee ice cream he’s ever had. But don’t just take our word for it, I definitely recommend checking out any Salt & Straw location. Their unique flavors are hard to pass up and they’re alway super friendly!

If you’re more of a donut person, VooDoo Doughnut and Blue Star are both great places to check out. I would definitely suggest visiting VooDoo if you’re in the mood for a dessert-y type of donut. They have everything from cereal and candy to marshmallows and nuts for their donut toppings. Just a little tip: they’re CASH ONLY so make sure you have some on hand if you’re going to grab a treat from here.

Blue Star has your more traditional donuts. There were definitely some different and interesting flavors such as Passion Fruit and Pina Colada. The ones we picked up were “The O.G”, Blueberry Bourbon Basil and a Cinnamon + Vanilla Sugar. “The O.G” had an horchata glaze which was pretty delicious. Every other blog I read about Blue Star had said that the Blueberry Bourbon Basil was a must try and I agree! I didn’t think it would be something I would like but there was something so unique about the flavor. I would definitely recommend stopping by Blue Star and trying out one of their donuts for sure!

BEER

Fun fact: there are more than 60 breweries in the Rose City! Stopping by at least one is a must when you visit Portland. Unless you’re not a beer/alcohol drinker, then I completely understand. Visiting a brewery would have never been on my list if it weren’t for Lyle. Even for a good portion of our relationship, I never was in to craft beers. It wasn’t until a few years ago when we were in California that we visited a brewery and he made me try a sour beer that I actually enjoyed them.

Our first stop in Portland, almost immediately after dropping off our things at the AirBnB, was Cascade Brewing Barrel House. I don’t remember how I had discovered this brewery but once I saw it was mostly sour beers, I got super excited. I told Lyle this had to be a must stop while we were in town. As I stated in my previous post, the dinner items were listed with a beer pairing. The pulled pork sandwich suggested the Oblique coffee stout, while the smoked chicken sandwich paired with an apricot sour. I’m not one for stouts, so I stuck with my sour beers. The apricot sour was pretty delicious and Lyle reports that his coffee stout was very good despite it being a lighter beer. We had tried a variety of other sours and were definitely not disappointed. We ended up liking this place so much, we had to stop by for one last drink before we headed out of Portland. We recommend Cascade if you’re a sour beer, or even craft beer, kinda person.

The only other brewery we got to go to (sad face) was Great Notion Brewery. We had just eaten not too long before stopping by here so I was not in any mood for anything. Lyle decided to order a flight with a raspberry and peach sour, orange creamsicle IPA, and some other IPAs for himself. I’m telling ya, I’ve somehow taken a liking to sour beers so I had to at least have one. Lyle really enjoyed this brewery for its variety and unusual beers. He said the orange cream beer was one of the strangest, yet refreshing, beers he has ever had. We really recommend this brewery for anyone in the Alberta area.

But like I said, there are so many breweries to visit while in Portland so I definitely recommend stopping by at least one or as many as you can!

COFFEE

Last, but certainly not least, we have coffee shops. You didn’t think I could write a blogpost and it not involve coffee did you? Portland’s coffee game is on point, so of course we visited 4 coffee shops while in the city.

The first coffee shop we went to was Heart Coffee Roasters. I tend to stick with my go-to drink, a vanilla latte, and Lyle ordered a good ol’ cold brew. We had stumbled upon the downtown location of Heart, so we sat at the window and checked out the downtown view. It’s location was perfect for popping in for an iced coffee after wandering around downtown Portland. The atmosphere was definitely perfect to relax or to concentrate on work.

 
 

The next place we stopped at was Good Coffee. (PSA- I think this goes unsaid but we did not stop at all these places in one day. I love coffee, but I’m not a psycho. Carry on!) Let me just tell you, when they say GOOD coffee, they mean it! We walked up to order and when the barista asked me what I wanted, I told her I was wanting to try something different because Lyle picks on me too much. She asked what my go to was (vanilla latte) and she suggested I try theirs because they make a special vanilla syrup in house. I will go as far as saying, it is without a doubt the BEST vanilla latte I have ever had. It tasted so fresh and not too sweet or sugary. I swear I downed it in 3 minutes. Lyle had their maple & smoked orange latte. It was definitely something different but I must say it was pretty delicious.  This was definitely my favorite coffeeshop we went to, 100% recommend it! Considering moving to Portland just to have this coffee in my life whenever I wanted.

 

Oblique Coffee Roasters is a place that Lyle had wanted to try out. It was a little colder so we both decided to go with hot drinks. Lyle had a mocha that he said was excellent and I got a hazelnut latte, which is honestly a little weird for me because I never get hot drinks, but it was actually really good. The coffeeshop itself was really cute and in the middle of a neighborhood. We didn’t get to stay for very long as we were on our way out to Mt. Hood, but I definitely would say this is a great local stop for coffee in Portland.

Stumptown Coffee is accessible in Los Angeles, but we decided to grab one last taste of Portland before boarding the plane. Surprisingly, I did not order a coffee! We had eaten before heading to the airport so I was pretty full and had no room for a coffee. Instead, I grabbed a Steven Smith black tea (can’t remember the exact kind, sorry!) and it was super tasty. Lyle ordered a regular ol’ cold brew and we were on our way back to LA.

I apologize for not having photos for the last two coffee places, that’s really not like me. Thinking back, I was probably too in the moment slash honestly probably wasn’t thinking about it. Either way, Hopefully this blogpost helped you in some way and you enjoyed reading about the coffee, beer and sweet tooth places we stopped at while in Portland. If you ever get the chance to visit this lovely city, I hope you stop by any of these places or even take the time to discover some favorite places of your own! Two more blogposts are still coming so be on the look out for those! As always, thanks for reading! 🙂

Photo Diaries: October 2016

2016

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s photo diary. October is my second favorite month, my first being of course my birthday month. I love that it’s finally fall time, except for the fact that in both Texas and California there really is no fall, it’s just still hot. Luckily, for the first few days of October, I got to experience an actual fall climate in Oregon! More on that later because I’m still working on those posts. So, keep reading to see my October adventures.

As I said, Lyle and I spent the first few days of October in Oregon. When we got back, I immediately went back to work. That being said, I worked a TON this month, again. YAY money, BOO always tired. I made sure to treasure my days off and treat myself to some relaxation.

One highlight of the month was another trip to Disneyland with a million thanks to Marissa! I’ve always wanted to visit Disneyland during Halloween and I’m so happy I finally got to check this off
my bucket list. We went during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and it was so much fun!

  

    

There were so many trick or treating trails and you better believe we hit all of them. Also, Marissa enjoys spending her time at Disneyland waiting in the crazy long lines to meet characters, something I haven’t done since I was 5. So of course, we waited to meet Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Rabbit.

  

Another thing that I haven’t done in a long time was sit and watch the fireworks and parade. I have to say, although I’m not a fan of sitting around, I enjoyed watching them this time. It was nice to do something different there.

 

Of course, I’m that girl that takes my dog to the pumpkin patch just to take some cute pictures. I honestly felt like a mom trying to get the attention of a 3 year old. Which, thinking back, was pretty much the case considering Sadie turned 3 this month! Her attention span for the pumpkin patch was about 20 minutes and then she was ready to go home.

  
  

Last but not least there’s Halloween weekend. Lyle and I went to a family party and decided to be Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf. I was pretty excited that Lyle was willing to let me put makeup all over his face. Not so bad for some last minute costumes, huh?

As far as Halloween day, I spent it laying around with Sadie watching the Halloween marathon on AMC and working on blogposts. I also spent a good amount of time deleting photos off my phone. I swear I’m a photo hoarder and it’s so hard to part with them, even if they are backed up somewhere else. I’m awful.

Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed this month’s photo diaries! I still have some blogposts from our Portland trip coming up so be on the lookout for those! Thanks for reading!

Explore Portland, Oregon: Eats – Where to Grab a Bite in the City

Food, Oregon, Portland, travel
PORTLAND EATS
Hey everyone! As you may know, Lyle and I recently went to Portland, Oregon to celebrate 5 years of getting on each other’s nerves. I kid, I kid. In all seriousness, we were super excited to visit this city for this special time.
Lyle had been only once before to play a show six years back and this was my first time visiting. Of course, throughout my planning process (I say “my” because Lyle decides he likes to leave the planning up to me) I had researched all things Portland to do, see and eat. That being said, I decided to do things a little differently with my blogposts of the trip. Instead of telling you about our trip day by day, I figured I would break it down to these 3 main points. Let’s get today’s post started with places to eat and grab a drink in the city!

*Disclaimer: Not a food critic WHATSOEVER. Just my opinions of some places we stopped at.*

BREAKFAST

Let’s start off with breakfast. I’m not much of a breakfast person, but every once in a while I crave a good meal in the morning. The first place we visited was Pine State Biscuits in the Alberta Arts District. Holy cow, so amazing. Lyle and I both ordered “The Reggie” which was a chicken sandwich topped with cheese, bacon and gravy. YEAH, I KNOW. When I got my plate, I had no idea where to start with it. I cut into the sandwich, took my first bite and died a little. It was so delicious, so full of flavor. I highly suggest stopping by for breakfast if chicken sandwiches are your thing! Ps, the line was out the door when we were on our way out. If that doesn’t scream “Eat here!”, I don’t know what will.

  

The second place we stopped at was called Stella Taco. Now, this place caught my attention on Yelp! because they claimed on their website to be Austin style tacos in the Northwest. I was pretty surprised to see anything Texas related this far north. Although, we did see quite a few Texas license plates there, no surprise. The restaurant had some “meh” reviews so at first I decided against trying it out. Lyle finally said we should just check it and see if it was good.

  
  

Walking in, I almost felt like I was back in Texas. There was a giant mural on the wall spelling out “Greetings from Stella” with Austin scenery in the background. I ordered potato, egg and cheese tacos that also came with BBQ sauce and avocado. I decided to 86 the BBQ sauce and keep the avocado. Lyle ordered brisket and egg tacos. Overall consensus: 10/10 would recommend. Nothing compares to good ol’ Tex-Mex, but it was delicious and definitely worth a try!

  

LUNCH
During our time in Portland, we never really ate lunch. We usually stuffed ourselves with a good breakfast so that we could last until dinner. However, I feel as though our dinner options could work for lunch as well. Even though we stopped at the food trucks for dinner, I figured I would throw this one into the “lunch” category because if you’re in the downtown area, there are plenty of food trucks to choose from to grab a quick bite for lunch.

The place we chose to eat at was called Chocolate Authentic Mexican Bistro. I’m not sure why I keep trying to trust Mexican food this far from Texas but I do. I ordered a burrito and was pretty disappointed with it. I don’t really care for frijoles, pero like, my burrito came loaded with them (and it didn’t say on the menu either). Lyle ordered some classic carnitas street tacos and was overall satisfied with them.

  

I’m not saying you have to try this place or don’t try this place. You can give it a shot for yourself and see how you feel! Or, like I said, try one of the many food truck options downtown.

DINNER

Our first stop after dropping our things at our Airbnb was a brewery. Cascade Brewing Barrel House specializes in sour beers, which is the main reason we wanted to stop by. Of course, we went for the beers, but dinner was a plus. I’ll get into the beer details in another post, but as far as dinner we were pretty happy with it. I ordered the smoked chicken on a brioche bun, while Lyle got the pulled pork. He pretty much dove straight into his sandwich before I could document it, sorry! We ended up cutting our sandwiches in half and sharing. Aww. Also, each item on the menu came with a beer pairing suggestion, which was A+ perfection.



After adventuring around the Oregon coast, we were in the mood for some good BBQ. We headed back to the city and dropped in at a restaurant called Reverend’s BBQ. I had actually found out about this restaurant through Instagram! I think our eyes were bigger than our stomach this evening because we definitely ordered too much food for just the two of us.

The brisket was super delicious. It was full of flavor and really tender. The pork ribs were just as tasty and the meat practically fell off the bone, which is always good! I had ordered the sausage and it came with 3 different flavors. Sadly, I can’t remember them right now, but I do remember they were mild, medium and spicy. I personally didn’t care for the spicy one, but the other two flavors were delicious. Lyle, being the chicken lover he is, had to order the fried chicken. According to him and his sophisticated palate, the fried chicken had a unique combination of spices and was overall very tasty.

Last but not least, the mac and cheese. To say I love mac and cheese would be an understatement. I could eat it everyday, if there were no consequences. Before this sounds like we went here solely for the mac and cheese, let me just say that it was delicious. A+ for creaminess and the added bonus of crushed up BBQ chips on top. I probably would revisit JUST for that though. *Drools*

I applaud you if you got this far in the post. I’m sorry, I just have so much to say! If you plan to visit Portland one day, I hope this mini city guide helps you decide on some places to check out for food! Since this post was already pretty lengthy, I decided to put some dessert, coffee and beer places in another post. As always, let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading! 🙂

Photo Diaries – September 2016

2016

Hey, y’all! So as you’re reading this, Lyle and I are galavanting around Portland, Oregon. I’m pretty excited because this city has been on my “To Visit” list for a few years now. *EDIT* This blogpost WAS supposed to go up while we were away, but unfortunately it didn’t post as scheduled. But, that’s not what this blogpost is about! Today’s post is all about what I was up to during the month of September. So, let’s get into it.

I’ll start off by saying that I honestly didn’t get to do too much. I worked quite a bit this month and while that may have been awesome for my bank account, it definitely was not good for my soul. There were days where I felt so uninspired and stuck. I was upset that I didn’t have any content to work on and that drove me crazy. I tried to make the best of all my days this month by being thankful I worked as much as I did, enjoying the days I was able to do something, and enjoying the few days I had off to do absolutely nothing but relax and unwind.

In the beginning of September, Lyle’s best friend Alex came into town with his girlfriend Zoe! They came out on a road trip to celebrate his birthday and spent a few days with us. We showed them around as much of LA as we could and we had to take them to California Donuts! After a few days of hanging out around LA, they left and went on to visit Yosemite.

The only other outing I had was a day out with Marissa. I had picked her up from her apartment to spend the night with us before the fair and we had decided to run a few errands. Honestly, I feel like our outings are pretty typical; a day that includes some food, coffee and dessert. Of course, some shopping is always involved at some point.

I know I didn’t get into too many shenanigans this month but I hope you enjoyed reading regardless! It was tough but I needed to save some energy and money for Portland! We’re super excited to be exploring out here! Some blogposts are semi in the works so be on the lookout for those in the next few weeks! Oh look, another exclamation mark! Until next time, xo 🙂

One Year Ago Today…

2016

I did one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do. I packed up my things and moved across the country to California with Lyle. We both felt like it was something that needed to be done to further our careers.

This new journey of our lives started on the morning of October 6, 2015. We packed up Lyle’s car and  headed to West Texas. I was ready for something new but I wasn’t ready to stop exploring my beautiful home state. There were so many places I had yet to see so we decided to use this time to check some things off our bucket list. I already wrote about our West Texas adventures and our journey west in previous blogposts, but here’s a quick recap in some photos.

Life here has definitely been rough at times for the both of us, but we’ve learned to work together and push through the bad times. It’s taught us to be stronger as individuals and for each other. I’m super thankful that Lyle and I can both flourish out here because I’m not sure if I would have ever made the move alone or been able to survive out here as long as I have.

Since being here in LA, I feel as if I’ve grown and gotten further in my “career”. Even though I’m still constantly questioning “What do I want to do with my life?”, I think moving was a good choice. It’s helped me find a little more direction in my life. I may still be a little lost at times (what 20 something isn’t a little lost? Let’s be real!) but every day things are getting a little more clear.

It has definitely taken some time, but I’ve found the inspiration I was hoping to find in the move. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel and have new experiences that have helped me create some awesome content that I might not have had otherwise. We’ve explored a new state and seen some awesome places together during our time here.

It’s been a blessing to have the opportunity to live in and experience a new city, one of the biggest cities, and we’ve enjoyed every minute of it. It’s been a whole lot easier having my cousin Marissa out here as well. Lyle and I would go here and there on occasion, but once Marissa moved back here in January, she dragged us out a lot more. Like that time she made us wake up at 6am to drive to Sea World San Diego so she could see Shamu…

Currently, I am photographing clothing and accessories for online consignment. It’s such a particular LA job that I feel lucky to have found. I often find myself wondering what my life would be like if I had stayed in Texas. I really don’t think I would be doing anything close to what I have done with my time in California. But who knows really? All I know is that I feel like I am on the right path to something great.

I’ve never felt stronger about doing something that absolutely terrifies you. Getting outside of your comfort zone and doing something you never thought you would do is so freeing. If you’re waiting for a sign or message that it’s time to do something different with your life, here it is. I 100% support anyone who feels they need a change. Do what scares you because it’s true, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” -Neale Donald Walsch.

Previous Blogposts on our move:
Moving West: Roadtrip Day 1 / Marfa, Texas
Moving West: Roadtrip Day 2 / Monahans Sandhills State Park
Moving West: Roadtrip Day 3 / Palo Duro Canyon State Park & Cadillac Ranch
Moving West: Roadtrip Day 4 // Hoover Dam, Las Vegas & California!

LA County Fair Adventures

adventure

Hello friends! So just last weekend, Lyle, Marissa and I headed out to Pomona to check out the LA County Fair. Aside from it being INCREDIBLY hot, we had so much fun. And yes Texas friends and family, California does indeed get hot. We are in the desert! Just because we don’t have the humidity, doesn’t mean it’s not still hot! Anyway, let’s just get to the good parts of the story!

 

So first thing’s first, when we arrived, we went straight to an area called “The Farm”. Of course the first thing on our list was to play with the animals. We spent a good hour or two watching the goats jump around on bales of hay and petting the cute little animals.

From here, we went on to check out the little shops set up inside the expo halls. There were so many different shops set up in all the buildings, I don’t think we even had a chance to see them all. After that, we decided it was definitely time for food. There were so many different options, it was hard to choose. The majority of our options were fried because what’s a fair without some fried foods?

So we ordered some basic chicken strips because we needed some sort of normalcy, fried pickles all for myself because Lyle and Marissa are insane and don’t like pickles, and some FRIED OREOS. I was mostly excited for those, and my mouth is currently watering for them as I write this. I never had a fried Oreo before this and it was kind of life changing. I couldn’t tell you why it was so good but it just was.

After we sat and devoured our fried foods, we went off to see some more animals. I’m starting to think Marissa only wanted to go to the fair to see animals. We found Stanley the giraffe and he was honestly so adorable. I had never seen a giraffe in person so it was pretty interesting to be there and watch him do his giraffe things. There were also some zebras hanging out and waiting to be fed. Once they got their food, they were in their own little world and completely ignored everyone gawking at them. We also watched some cute monkeys swinging around their cage and some other cute little animals hanging out.

Our last spot to check out was “America’s Great Outdoors”. They had a whole section dedicated to the National Parks Service and, of course, I was the one to drag Lyle and Marissa there. It was a nice little area to get away to from the craziness of the fair that made me feel like I was off hiking somewhere.

Although it was an extremely hot day, we still had a lot of fun checking out the fair. It’s so much fun to be able to experience different LA/CA events. It definitely reminded me of the rodeo, minus the rodeo part of course. Shoutout to Marissa dragging us along to more than half of them because I doubt Lyle and I would do these things on our own, haha. Anyway, that’s all for today! I have lots of exciting content I’ll be putting up over the next month or so! Be sure to check back in for those updates! 🙂 Until next time, xo!

Photo Diaries: August 2016

2016

Helloooo everyone, welcome back to another photo diaries. Why is it already September?! I’m not sure if I’m more ready for fall to come or more sad that summer will end soon. But does summer ever really end in LA? Let’s be real, not really. Anyway, keep reading to see what I’ve been up to this past month.

If you didn’t know, I had an article published with the San Antonio Newspaper about my trip to Big Bend National Park a few years ago! My mom had shown me the article in print but I’m still confused as to where it was exactly. That doesn’t matter now because I’m not sure who actually still reads the physical paper besides my parents. If you’re late to the game and thinking “Hey Lori, I would LOVE to see what got published” then don’t worry, I got you covered. You can click here to check it out!

After returning from our trip in Texas, we pretty much immediately began helping move Marissa into her new apartment at USC. It was a three day process and I’m not even sure how that happened. It made me feel super nostalgic because I remember moving around dorms and apartments in San Marcos and it made me miss it! I also feel old now, great. And if we didn’t get ice cream, coffee or go to Alfred’s Tea, did we even really hang out with Marissa?

My favorite thing that happened this month was going to a Boys Like Girls concert. If you know me well, you know that BLG was my favorite band all through high school and into college. Now, I’ve definitely grown past the whole going to shows phase of my life. I remember my parents being so annoyed when I wanted to go to a show or concert just about every weekend in high school. Being that I haven’t really been to a concert in I don’t know how long, it was kind of weird and uncomfortable for me to be there. I felt super out of place. This tour they were on was a 10 year anniversary tour of the release of their first album. Once they came out and started playing I was instantly 15 again and felt right at home. Ugh, shout out to Marissa for convincing me to go! I had so much fun that night and now I’m sad and want to see them again.

Other than those fun outings, I’ve been working. Working at my job and working on my blog stuff. That’s still a job to me and I make sure to put in the effort and hours for my content. I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want this blog to go and I’m working on ways to make it better! I hope to be able to do that in the near future so we’ll just have to see! Thank you for catching up with me this month! The next few weeks should be full of some exciting things so keep your eyes peeled!

Texas, Texas, Texas

travel

Hey guys! So it’s been a while since my last blogpost. I feel like I’ve been on the go nonstop the past few weeks and I haven’t had much time to sit down and work on my blog. Life happens, what can ya do? Let’s get into our time in TEXAS! ❤️

Our adventure home started early on Wednesday. Our flight wasn’t until 6:45 but we wanted to head to the city early to avoid traffic. We had found a restaurant in Los Feliz called HomeState. It is described as a Texas kitchen featuring breakfast tacos, queso, and brisket with some Austin based foods and coffee. Aside from their breakfast tacos being $3.50, they were pretty delicious. They were definitely very “Austin” tasting tacos (remember the breakfast taco battle between San Antonio and Austin?). After our lunch, we grabbed a coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee in Echo Park and wasted time until our nearly 7pm flight back home. We landed in Austin at midnight and first stop was Whataburger, of course! My dad, sister and nieces picked me up in New Braunfels and I was on my way to my little pup, Sierra!

Thursday was an errands day. I ran around everywhere with my mom trying to get things done. While in my neck of the woods, I of course had to stop at Wizards for a raspa! We continued our errands and ended with dinner at Bill Miller’s, yum!

Friday was Miclynn’s graduation, yay! After a rough morning of no AC, my parents dropped my off at Lyle’s house. We headed to Texas State in San Marcos to watch Miclynn make her way across the stage. Watch out world, I’m not sure if you’re ready to handle the sass of Miclynn! It was such a weird feeling to be back on that beautiful campus. I miss that little town so much. 


Saturday was a river day! All I wanted to do when I got back to Texas was float the river. Sure, California has the beaches but honestly, nothing here can compare to the Texas Hill Country. I had a love/hate relationship with the fact that it was supposed to rain. Considering we don’t get any rain in LA, I was so happy to see gray skies. But at the same time, I wanted sunny skies to float! Even though the day started off pretty gloomy, I was super pleased when the sun finally came out and I was able to get my tan on! We spent a good six hours in the good ol’ Guadalupe before heading back home.

On Sunday, I grabbed lunch with my family at Luby’s (ugh, now I’m craving it). Of course, it was a rainy day but I loved it! After lunch, I met Maria, Russell and Paul at one of my favorite spots in Southtown, Halcyon Coffee Bar. We spent a few hours catching up and sipping some coffee. What else is new? I wouldn’t have it any other way though.


I was woken up Monday morning by the AC guys making so much noise outside my room. We had another late evening flight back so I had a few hours to lay around and soak in my Texas time. I made sure to spend lots of time with my little Sierra baby because I always miss her so much. Not to take away from how much I miss my friends and family! I’m just able to talk to them and they understand I’m gone. DOES SIERRA UNDERSTAND?! Ugh. Just look how cute she is.



Anyway, I shall leave you on that note. Thanks for catching up on today’s blogpost! I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures back home. I can never visit home long enough, it always seems like the time goes by so quickly! But I make sure to enjoy whatever time I do have with my family and friends. Be sure to be on the lookout for my next blogpost!

Lyle’s Birthday on Catalina Island!

travel

Hey guys, welcome back! Last weekend was Lyle’s birthday and to celebrate, he decided he wanted to go to Catalina Island! Catalina is located about 22 miles off the coast of California. It’s the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. Helpful tip: if you plan to visit Catalina Island, try to do so on your birthday! You get lot’s of things for free and there’s a ton of birthday specials! So, let’s get into the post.

So first, we drove to San Pedro, which was about an hour away, to board the ferry to the island. The ferry ride takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. Since we were traveling on Lyle’s actual birthday, his boat ride was free! We boarded the boat and grabbed a seat by the window. After we took off, we decided to move up towards the front of the boat. From there, we discovered that we could step outside the cabin and enjoy the ride from there. However, it was quite a bumpy ride and very, very windy so we decided to go back inside and enjoy the rest of the ride from our seats.

We finally arrived at the island and took a few minutes to scope out the area. We walked along the marina and marveled at how beautiful the island was.

Our first adventure after arriving to the island was snorkeling! We rented the equipment from Catalina Scuba Luv. The birthday special here was buy one, get one half off! We went to leave our things in a locker and headed to Lover’s Cove. Lover’s Cove is a marine reserve so the waters here are protected. The water was super clear and the first thing we saw were tons of fish swimming around us. They’re so used to people being here that they’re not scared. They will swarm if you have food, though!

We spent about an hour or so snorkeling before heading back to return the gear. We were pretty excited about our next adventure, probably me more than Lyle. After snorkeling, we went PARASAILING! We checked in and headed down to the marina to get on our boat. We took off and they started setting everything up and strapping in the first couple to fly. When it was finally our turn I was so excited! I wasn’t sure what to expect but everything went super smooth. We were surprised to find that the flight was extremely peaceful. For Lyle being afraid of heights and me being afraid of the ocean, I’d say we did pretty good for ourselves. We both overcame some fears that day and we’re proud of ourselves.

We had been nonstop from the moment we stepped foot onto the island. We finally had time to walk around and explore. We went to Catalina Coffee and Cookie Co to get Lyle’s free birthday coffee and some dessert (yes, before dinner because we’re children). We sat down outside the shop to enjoy our treat before decided to walk around some more.

We walked about a half mile uphill to Chimes Tower because I had read the views from here were pretty spectacular. We got there only to find out it was closed for restorations. We were a little upset but I’m stubborn and refused to believe I had walked uphill for nothing. I kept walking past Chimes Tower and found a little cliff area that ensured the views we were promised.

After we took in the views for as long as we could, we decided to head back down towards the city to explore a bit more. We found a restaurant called The Lobster Trap and decided to eat dinner there. I just ordered a fish sandwich while Lyle ordered the seafood combo which came with scallops, fish, shrimp and calamari. After dinner, we went back to the little coffee shop for a dollar refill and headed back to the ferry to go back home.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures on Catalina Island! I also hope you’re able to visit one day, maybe on your birthday, and that my tips may have helped you out! And of course, what’s a trip without a travel vlog?! Check out the video I made down below and let me know what you think! Until next time, xo!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/178359779

Photo Diaries: July 2016

2016

Hey everyone! Usual intro: How is it already August? What’s happening? Make time stop. PLEASE. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s have a little recap of what I’ve been up to this month, shall we?

The day after my family left I felt lost and didn’t know what to do with my time. I had gone from nonstop activities to having nothing to do. I felt restless and I knew I needed to get out for an adventure. We decided to head out to Vasquez Rocks for sunset. We decided to take Sadie this time because I’m sure she hates being inside sometimes also. She is in no way an adventure dog but I’m determined to try to make her one! Watching the sunset on Vasquez Rocks was the perfect way to spend my evening.

A few weeks ago, Lyle played show in Mt. Baldy, California. I had never been out there so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was envisioning some sort of wooded outdoor festival, although I’m not sure why. It turns out, they played at Top of the Notch at Mt. Baldy. We took the ski lifts up there and it was such a fun experience. If you follow my snapchat, which you should, you know I was obsessed with the views! The band put on a great show and it was just a fun day overall.

Last week, Lyle and I went to the California Science Center to check out National Parks Adventure in 3D and IMAX. I had been wanting to see this for months so I was super excited we were finally going. I honestly almost cried watching this film. I have such a strong love for the outdoors and a passion for helping to protect our land. I walked out of that movie planning trips for all the National Parks I plan to visit soon. If you get the chance, I suggest you check it out! From there, we grabbed a coffee (what’s new?) and some tacos from Pinches Tacos (so, so good).

This past Saturday was Marissa day (kidding, sort of). I actually hadn’t seen her since my family had left due to our conflicting schedules. We finally got some hang time in and decided to grab some lunch at a place called Bruxie at Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. It’s a chicken and waffle restaurant that offers a variety of waffle sandwiches as well as a classic chicken and waffles skillet. I’m not going to lie, I was just going to order chicken strips and waffle fries because the idea of a waffle taco weirded me out. I decided against that and went with the bbq pork waffle sandwich and it was surprisingly delicious.

After lunch, we headed to Alfred’s Tea Room. I had been to Alfred’s Coffee before but Alfred’s Tea Room just recently opened. I ordered a tropical coconut tea and it did not disappoint! We relaxed here for a while before heading out to Griffith Park for some hammock hangs. Fun fact: Marissa fell out of the hammock. No one got it on camera, which would have been pretty great, but it did indeed happen. No worries though, she’s doing fine!

Our last stop of the night was grabbing a snack at Lemonade. Their truffle mac and cheese is my favorite thing ever. Also, what’s a stop at Lemonade without lemonade? I’m never daring when it comes to mixing drinks but I decided to mix Blood Orange lemonade with Guava Limeade and holy cow. If you ever visit LA and check out Lemonade, I highly suggest this mix.

Aside from these major outings, there were many lazy pool days that were had. I took advantage of my days off of work by lounging in the pool on my awesome donut float and soaking up the sun!

Thanks so much for checking out today’s blogpost! I hope you enjoyed it! I got some fun things happening in the next few weeks so be on the lookout for those blogposts coming soon!