Our trip to Prague was a short-lived. We had two days to explore, and I got the flu the day we were headed there. Because of that, I spent a lot of time in the room instead of exploring the city. And when I did explore I felt like I was in a fog. But what I remember of it I did enjoy and will definitely love to go back one day!

First things first, I had to go exchange my euros for Czech koruna. I definitely felt rich after, this was worth about 37 euro. Needless to say, our money went a long way here. lol!

The rest of day 1 was mostly food and beer related with a little exploring. Let me just say this is a great place to visit if you want to drink great beer for cheap!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Prague is a city broken up into districts by numbers. If you plan to travel there and plan to hit the major tourist spots I would recommend to stay in either Prague 1 or Prague 2. Although the public transportation is very convenient and very cheap, so if you stay outside of those districts it still won’t take too long to get to the areas you want to explore.

Day 2 we started off in Prague 2. Prague 2 is more new town with a typical city feel to it. You will find a lot of familiar stores here. I wanted to go all out with the food we ate considering I was sick and didn’t get to join on the night time festivities (which by the way I hear was awesome and quite the experience). So we went to this restaurant at the top of a building that looked really fancy. Our gourmet meal cost us a whopping $15 euro equivalent per plate. I was pretty happy with that!

After lunch we made our way over to Prague 1 which is the old town. OMG was it beautiful! I was so in love with the looks of the old buildings and feel to this area. I seriously felt like I was traveling back in time. We then made the hike to Prague Castle. It is at the top of the hill so be prepared with some good walking shoes! It was so worth it. The castle is absolutely breathtaking. The pictures really don’t do it justice. One of my favorite parts about the castle? Definitely the violent statues at the gates. Where else can you see that?!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We then went to old town square to see the oldest working clock in the world, the Prague Olaj. It was pretty neat to see and old town square had such a cute feel to it as well. Full of the old buildings I just couldn’t get enough of. And we found this stand with Trdelník. The best way for me to describe Trdelník is to say its like a giant churro with Nutella on the inside. OMG was this good!

And that was my experience in Prague. Definitely wasn’t the most exciting part of our trip, but I know it was only because of how sick I was. But for a city I spent most of my time in the room in, I am still pretty happy with what we were able to cover!

Have you been to Prague? What things did you like about it? And since I am DEFINITELY going back one day, what kind of things would you suggest to check out or try?

Until next time!

My trip to Prague

August 24, 2016August 24, 2016 / Sam / Leave a comment

My Trip to Venice, Italy

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015 / Sam / 3 Comments

Venice is a magical city. Mostly the feeling you get there. This was a city I was most excited about. I had been dreaming of visiting here for as long as I can remember.

The Island has no cars, no bikes, no vespas… to get anywhere you walk. Or if you feel like paying an arm and a leg you can take a water taxi. The water bus is a little cheaper, we took that from the mainland to get to the island.

This was our view from the boat. Instantly you feel like your in a dream. “Oh My Gosh!! We’re ACTUALLY in Venice! Somebody pinch me so I know this is real!”

We didn’t get a hotel here, instead we booked a room on Airbnb. Which was really great because we got the real local experience. I highly suggest this site next time you travel! (Click this link for $20 off your first stay) Alex got sick so I wen’t off to try and find a restaurant our host recommended for some dinner. Ended up getting lost and passing the place about 7 times before I realized that was the place! lol!!

Venice is a very safe city. Even being lost on my first night in the middle of the night by myself, I did not feel in danger at all. The city is just tons of narrow streets and canals, it would be a little hard for someone to escape unnoticed if they committed a crime. Especially with how many people there are to witness.

Our host also let us know about the restaurant trick out here. If you want to save some money, you “do as the locals do” and get all of your food and drinks as “take away”. This doesn’t mean they wrap it all up to go like they do here in the states. This just means you don’t sit. They give you your food on a regular plate, wine in a wine glass and you either eat standing or you find a curb to sit on outside. And if you do this you get your items at about half the cost as you would sitting down. I found a little spot outside on the windowsill. It was an experience for sure.

Unfortunately the food was terrible. And I thought maybe it was just a bad recommendation, but I found out later that there is no GREAT food in Venice. That I had found anyway. We definitely tried. We had some dishes that were Okay. But overall most of it was cold when it should be warm/hot and wasn’t very flavorful. But the wine was good! And I will admit I had a fun time just sitting on the windowsill drinking my wine and watching the other tourists try to find their way around. lol! (I feel your pain!)

The next day Alex was feeling a little better so we did some site seeing. Apparently the thing to do in Venice is get lost and try to stumble upon cool things. So that’s exactly what we did! First we stumbled upon some coffee and pizza to start the day.

The pizza actually wasn’t too bad. At least compared to the other disappointing food we had. After we found a nice spot for some “take away” wine!

And then we just explored the city. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

The architecture here was something that really impressed me. Like the door above and the walkway below. It was things like this that you just don’t see everyday. Just walking through here you feel the history and Italian culture.

Later in the afternoon we found our way to St. Marks Square. To my disappointment half of St. Marks Basilica was under construction so I didn’t take any pictures of it. Here is some other parts of the square I did get.

Gondolas are such an iconic role in Venetian history and culture. We definitely had to go on a ride while we were here. I will give you a little heads up though…. it’s a tourist attraction, so you will pay a hefty price. We paid 80 Euro for a half hour ride. And we didn’t get serenaded. But it was worth every penny!

This was such a romantic and magical experience. I loved every minute and I was so happy I had someone special to share it with. I think the only thing that could have made it better would have been a glass of wine, or maybe even a bottle of champagne! Ah well maybe next time.

Here is another pic I took of the Gondolas while we were walking around

Oh did I mention that on our Adventure that day we found a casino? Of course leave it to me and Alex to find a casino on our vacation. But this wasn’t just any casino, this just so happens to be the oldest casino in the world!

You have to dress up to enter this casino so we made a plan to come back that night. They don’t allow you to take any pictures inside so all I have is this photo outside. It was a pretty fun night though. We came, we gambled, we lost. LOL! But we lost money at the oldest casino, and in Venice so we weren’t even mad. (Sorry Vegas we had to share our losses elsewhere sometime!)

The next day we only had until noon to site see, before heading to the airport for the next stop. We saw everything that we had wanted to so we found our way to get some more coffee and wine.

It was very interesting to see in Venetian culture as well. Sitting at the wine bar we saw a group of locals walk in, have a glass of wine and then head off to work. We sat and thought about this concept for a bit and realized how great it would be to live that way! Imagine waking up and walking this small island everyday, stop at your favorite wine shop, and head in to work. And these weren’t young people, these were older men who looked like they had been doing this for years. Talk about living the good life!

After our morning wine we still had some time to kill so we walked back to St. Marks Square to hang out for a while.

And that was our trip to Venice! It was short and sweet. We were told that we could see Venice in about 2 days and it was the best advice. We literally saw everything and felt ready to head to the next city by the time we had to leave.

Some fun little bits/tips about Venice:

1. It is VERY touristy. I think most places you go you wonder who is a tourist… Here I wondered who was a local. There are more tourists versus locals here in Venice on any given day. And I think the ratio was something crazy like a 5 to 1 or 5 to 2 ratio.

2. Despite the beauty of Venice, you can’t help but wonder if Tourism is taking over. I often felt like it was Italy’s Disneyland. There were so many souvenir shops all selling the same thing.

3. Wear COMFORTABLE shoes! You will be walking a ton! And unless you want to pay hefty prices, you won’t have many options on places to sit.

If you ever had an interest in visiting Venice I would definitely recommend going sooner rather than later. There is still so much culture and unique beauty here if you are open to noticing it.

Have you been to Venice? What did you love so much about it? Let me know in the comments below!

And that was our trip to Venice, Italy! It was short and sweet. But Those will be some everlasting memories I am so glad to have! Hope you enjoyed this post! If you enjoy reading, make sure to subscribe by putting in your email address and never miss a post! Ciao Grazie!

My trip to Paris, France

November 7, 2015November 7, 2015 / Sam / 2 Comments

I’m not going to be one of those travel bloggers who reports that everywhere I go is all butterflies and rainbows and the most magical experience of my life. Why? Because that’s all I read about pre my first trip abroad and guess what… It wasn’t my reality.

With that being said….I LOVED Paris. Okay, let me back up… I ended up loving Paris. The first couple days I was still in shock. It wasn’t this picture perfect french paradise everyone makes it out to be. Its dirty, and a little run down and guess what.. its just another city. But once you get past the shock of all of that, you see it is full of beautiful historical and breathtaking culture. No really it is! The touristy areas are a bit dumpy. But I think its because there are just masses of people who just leave their trash (this really made me mad) and Gypsies on every corner hassling you. But if you ignore that you appreciate how beautiful those landmarks are and then you move onto the not so touristy areas, where you see the real Parisian beauty.

The night we got there we were pretty tired from traveling. Our hotel was right next to the Eiffel Tower so we walked around for a bit and then grabbed some dinner at Le Bailli de Suffren.

I thought the food was pretty good. Although from the Tripadvisor reviews it says this place can be a hit or miss. All I know is that the chicken was so moist and delicious especially compared to other places we went to. I also tried Croque-monsieur (the dish with the egg on it) which was really yummy and of course “Frites”. It’s not the high end french cuisine but all in all I left happy and thought it was pretty good.

Our first day we decided to wake up early to go to the Louvre. We got there right when it opened and there was already a good amount of people in line, luckily it didn’t take too long. (When we left the line was crazy long so I was glad we got there early.) I hear there is another entrance that is quicker… but the courtyard is really beautiful. I really love the glass pyramids and the sky was helping with a nice beautiful cloudy background. I would love to come back one day and just sit and people watch in the courtyard and take pictures of those beautiful iconic pyramids. Maybe during a nice sunset!

This place is HUGE! I mean you can easily spend a whole day here. But after a while of looking around I was getting hot and irritated from the mass crowd of people so we looked for the Mona Lisa and left.

It was so much smaller than I thought. But it was really cool to see it in person after seeing it in History books your whole life. Just prepare to fight the crowd of people to get a close up.

One item on my france bucket list was to get a crepe so we found a little stand… it was soooo good!! If you are going to Paris… a crepe is a must! I mean… just look how good it looks! And as an American we aren’t too familiar with Nutella. Europeans LOVE their Nutella, now I see why and its my new favorite thing! lol!

After lunch we found our way to Notre Dame. This Cathedral is Breathtaking! The pictures really don’t do it justice. But once again… mass crowds of people. (I just wanted 1 photo! lol!)

The detail on this cathedral is just mind blowing. Every little piece… every little arch… every statue… its really amazing to see.

Here is a picture of some of the saints… I thought it was interesting that one of them is holding his head. lol.

What made this church the most exciting though was the inside. We didn’t even realize we were there on a sunday and they would be in the middle of mass. Words can’t even describe the feeling you get when your inside and the choir is singing. They really knew what they were doing when they built this. And there are chandeliers lining the halls lit by candle and beautiful tall arches.

You can’t help but feel closer to God walking through this place. It literally takes your breath away.

Another Item on my list was to see the Bridges with all of the “Lovers Locks”. Shortly before our trip they had announced they will be removing all of the locks so I was pretty bummed about it. But we walked over there anyway and to my surprise they still had some up!! While I was busy snapping pictures of it, Alex was super sweet and surprised me with our own lock!

I know they will be taking it down, but the memory will last forever.

As busy as this day was already, we wanted to trek to 1 more spot before dinner which was the Arc de Triomphe. We got there just before the sun was setting and it was the PERFECT spot to be.

How is that for a nice sunset?! (If you remember from this summer I was trying to capture the perfect sunset).

For dinner that night we walked around and found Bistrot Le Champ de Mars

Alex was really wanting some French Onion Soup. I wanted to try what he had the night before which was the chicken and frites. The soup was better though. The chicken here was very dry.

But you just can’t beat a night of drinking wine and soaking up the streets of Paris. This is when the magic starting happening for me. This moment right here.

Another item on my Paris bucket list was to get a good picture of the Eiffel tower. One at night when it sparkled and one in the day time. Here is what I got!

The next day we tried to get up to go see the Catacombs, but to our surprise they are closed on Mondays! Go figure. lol! So we enjoyed some Cafe Lattes while figuring out what to do next.

Yum! I tell you sitting on the outside of these little cafe’s never gets old. Especially if you love to people watch. Or if you are like me and just love to sit and soak in the atmosphere and the memory of the moment.

We decided to go look for a market next. We ended up in this beautiful area of Paris and boom… we got stormed on. Literally stormed on! I’m not talking a little rain, I’m talking about it raining so hard that the umbrella wasn’t keeping us dry, and the wind blowing so hard that it ended up breaking our umbrella in half!! lol!!! But when the storm let up a little I got this shot that I am absolutely in love with.

To make the day that much better…. we walked all that way in the storm to find out the market wasn’t even there. (thanks internet tippers) But the adventure was still totally worth it. We of course had to stop and get lunch since we were in a new area.

We found this little spot called La Fontaine. I couldn’t find it online to share the link, but it wasn’t the greatest spot anyway. It was good just not great. Not like you’re missing out on anything spectacular if you don’t go. The cheese plate was a plus though and of course the wine was great!

After our adventure in the storm we took the metro to Champs-Élysées. Incase you don’t know, that’s a famous street for shopping. We didn’t really care to shop much, but we found this interesting store that had this GIANT slide! Which we of course had to ride.

LOL! This was so fun! We had a blast riding the slide and had a very interesting experience with their “race car simulator” Although that was probably just a be there kind of moment. If you go there I would recommend getting 2 slide tickets and skipping the simulator. Just trust me on this one. lol!!

Now I’m sure you have heard of the french dessert called macaroons right? We went to the store called Ladurée which is said to be the first bakery to create the yummy dessert. They were delicious by the way. We had to go in and buy some.

Put this place on your Paris bucket list! Seriously!

Ok now if you want to know a place to eat in Paris that is an ABSOLUTE MUST get excited because here it is. It’s this little spot called La Jacobine. This place was AMAZING!

The service here was fantastic, which if you have been to Europe you know that’s pretty rare in itself. The food tasted so fresh and flavorful. I had to try escargot at least once. How often am I in France? So I got that as my starter and Alex got the French Onion Soup. Both were Excellent by the way! I never thought I would find snails tasty. lol!!

I can’t remember the names of our dishes but I ordered whatever sounded really french and tasty and just went with it. lol.

If you think this looks delicious? It tastes even better! So rich, so flavorful, meat cooked to perfection. It really felt like we were spoiling ourselves to some fancy french cuisine without spending a fortune. I Definitely recommend this place! But wait one more thing… We had to have dessert.

We had the Tiramisu. BEST…. TIRAMISU…. I… HAVE… EVER… HAD! Not even joking. And of course I had to throw in a latte.

That was such a crazy day, 2 spots being closed… getting stormed on. But it made for great memories. Just goes to show that even when things don’t go as planned you can still have a great time. (Or at least look back on it as a messy adventure). LOL!

Our last day in Paris was a shorter one. We only had the morning to early afternoon to get in what we could that was left. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower of course was a must and since the lines get insanely long (especially in the summer) we decided to hit that as soon as they opened in the morning. We actually got there 30 mins before they opened… I highly suggest this if going in the summer.

Look at that view!!

As someone who is very scared of heights…. it was totally worth it! And here is a view from the other side.

We attempted one more time to see the catacombs but the line was already at a 4 hour wait so we didn’t make it to see that. So we browsed around the shops and found this awesome market with crazy cheese!

And that was our trip to Paris! At first it was a little shaky. It was the first city outside of the states for me, which gave me a little anxiety. Navigating a new country was a bit nerve-racking too. But it all wore off and the city is definitely a city I would love to return to one day.

Have you been to Paris? How did you like it? What recommendations would you give? I would LOVE to hear about it so comment below!

And here I leave you all with some little randoms about Paris:

I loved the walk signs! Most people might not even notice but they are different than here in the states and I thought they looked cool. haha!

2. I saw these posters plastered everywhere. Its photos of the Kennedy’s. I still don’t know why these were there but I thought it was neat. If anyone knows why please share!

3. McDonnalds in Paris has a dessert and cafe counter where they have macaroons!

Hope you all enjoyed this post! Au Revoir!

Photography – Trying to capture a perfect sunset

July 11, 2015July 11, 2015 / Sam / 1 Comment

This week I was determined to capture the perfect sunset. You know, the ones with all the pink and orange colors in the sky. It didn’t happen because mother nature doesn’t care what my plans are but I still tried! If you have ever lived by the beach you know that the weather can be very temperamental. This year we have had May grey, June gloom, and now no sky July!! What is going on dang it? The good thing about that is we can come across some amazing sunsets when it’s just the right amount of clouds in the sky (or so I hear… lol!) I am going to keep trying, maybe one of these days I’ll catch that perfect one. But for now I have pictures of 2 very different sky’s that still took my breath away. Isn’t mother nature great in reminding us how beautiful our planet is?

This photo was taken at Victoria Beach in Laguna. I am in love with the clouds here. Even though they blocked out all the vibrant colors of the sky (as you can see in the small strip at the bottom) they still are pretty beautiful.

As you can see the next days Sunset was a lot clearer! Beautiful and orangey. These next photos are all at Pearl Street beach in Laguna. I also love the clouds in this pic. And I LOVE when I can catch a good set of waves.

I was really loving all the clouds that day.

If you have never been to Pearl Street beach in Laguna, these rocks are what its known for. When the tide is low you can walk through the tunnel looking hole that’s in it. I also heard they have a lot of tide pools as well. This was my first trip to this beach so I will have to check it out again when the tide is low.

Not the pinkest sunset but I was still loving the colors in this pic. I also love how my camera captured the little rays coming from the sun.

And those are my photos for this week. Hope you all enjoyed! It’s been about 8 months now with my Nikon DSLR and I think I have made some great progress. Below is a picture from one of my first times trying to take pictures at the beach. LOL!!! As you can see there’s not much of a subject. No real good timing on the waves. Also I would suggest this wasn’t the best time of day to go out. Mid-day the daylight can be so harsh and so your limited to what techniques you can try.

But we all gotta start somewhere!!! Moral of this last bit is to pick up that DSLR that you spent bookoo bucks on, get it off the auto-mode and practice! You have no idea what you are capable of until you try. I think I still have a lot to learn but I continually surprise myself and It’s such a good feeling!

What have you all been taking pictures of this week? Are you newer to photography? Have you been doing this for years? Share your stories and photos, I would LOVE to hear about it and see what you’ve captured! I created a new Instagram specifically to this blog so check it out to follow my daily photos and tag me in any photos you would like to share! (who knows I may just feature some!)

If you love any of my photos on my blog and would like prints, I am working on an online store. So stay tuned! Hope you all have a great day!

The Chart House, Dana Point

July 3, 2015July 3, 2015 / Sam / Leave a comment

Me and the boyfriend have been living in South Orange County for about 4 years now, and I must say we have been blessed being surrounded by so much great food! At first it was an adjustment not having all of our Applebee’s 2 for $20 deals around us. But we quickly got over that!

Last summer 2 of our best friends held their wedding reception at the Chart House, it was absolutely beautiful! I knew the view would be amazing but O.M.G. was the view Amazing!!! And the food was perf!! Every year on our Anniversary BF always goes out of his way to take us somewhere special. Usually somewhere fancy that we can dress up and eat amazing food. Last year was the Ritz (definitely recommend trying it) and this year since we loved the food we had at the wedding, he decided on the Chart House!

You know you’re in a nice place when they give you custom menu’s wishing you a happy anniversary! It was a nice touch!

We decided to start the night off with a bottle of wine. We got a cab called “Snap Dragon” it was very good and paired nicely with everything we had.

For an Appetizer we decided to try the soup sampler which had gazpacho, lobster bisque and clam chowder (Didn’t get a picture of it sorry). The gazpacho was good but if you have never had it, its served cold. It reminds us of salsa lol. So while it was good, we like our soup hot so it was our least favorite of the 3. The lobster bisque was probably my favorite, it was so buttery tasting and had soo much lobster! The clam chowder was also super delicious and they did not skimp on the clams either.

For our main dishes I got the slow roasted free range chicken which is fennel and thyme brined and came with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, asparagus and au jus. BF got the swordfish with lemon shallot butter and came with rice and veggies. We also decided to share a side of mushrooms. YUM!

Chicken

Swordfish

Side of Mushrooms

Let me just tell you, these pictures do not do justice to how amazing it all tasted! And those mushrooms…. wow! I am tempted to go back right now just writing about it! The chicken dish was paired so lovely. The sauce, the brine, the potatoes omg! And the mushrooms were so buttery and garlicy… are you drooling? you should be. Every flavor of each dish paired so nicely.

For dessert they only have 1 signature dessert which was the Hot Chocolate Lava Cake. “Rich, warm cake with molten center, made with Godiva® liqueur. Topped with chocolate sauce, Heath® bar crunch and vanilla ice cream.” That was taken straight from the menu. yeah, it was as good as it sounds..

This desert takes 30 mins to make, so we had to order it in advance. We were already pretty full by the time we got it but that did NOT stop us from devouring it all! (guilty face) haha.

And that was our meal at the Chart House in Dana Point. They have lots of locations all over the U.S. so if you have the opportunity to eat there near you I definitely recommend it! At the wedding we tried a bunch of their appetizers; the coconut crunchy shrimp, Chilled lobster and shrimp spring rolls, and the wicked tuna. All of them were absolutely delicious!!

Here is a little snap of us at the wedding with the amazing view of the Dana Point Harbor

Have you been to any of the Chart House locations before? What did you get? I would love to hear all about it!

Cheers! ♥

Photo Updates – New Techniques

June 22, 2015July 11, 2015 / Sam / Leave a comment

This last week I was struggling a lot again with feeling inspired to go out and take my daily photos. But they say this challenge is our challenge and to not beat ourselves up over it! So while I didn’t go out everyday, I did practice some new techniques when I did. And that’s what I would like to share with you all!

This is one of my favorite photos from the Maternity session I did for one of my best friends. I don’t have much experience yet with portraits or maternity but I was very happy with the outcome! Do you take portraits? What is your favorite way of posing people? My favorite is to get them to naturally laugh. Do you have a favorite lens? time of day? One tip I have is to not take photos of people mid-day, the light is too harsh and your subjects are often squinting (not good for pictures).

Photo taken in Laguna Beach. Was loving the rocks!

Sunset in Laguna Beach, CA. Was practicing using filters for the first time. Was pretty happy about being able to aim my lens at the sun. And I really like the reflection on the ground. Do you use lens filters? I definitely want to practice with them more after this!

This photo is what I was most excited about! I have been trying to achieve this type of photo for a long time now and couldn’t figure out the right lighting/settings etc. They say it everywhere but its true, lighting is EVERYTHING when it comes to photography. Have you tried taking pictures of the water moving like this? How difficult was it for you to achieve? I’ll tell you it took me 4 months to figure this out! Yeah, now you can see why I was so excited lol!

Well hope you all enjoyed this last weeks photos! I am going to move the photo-a-day challenge to my Instagram so be sure to check it out. But if you aren’t on Instagram don’t worry I will be continuing to post my favorite highlights here! If you are doing the challenge, or just excited about your photos be sure to tag me/ or share them here!! I would LOVE to see them!

Hope you all have a great week!

Photo A Day: Week 1 – B&W Photos

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015 / Sam / Leave a comment

Photo a day WEEK 1: I did it guys! I have to be honest I wasn’t too sure most days. But I finished all 7 days and I’m excited to share with you what I’ve got! I also decided to give these photo topics an extra flare by doing a theme! This week I wanted to do silhouettes, but the weather didn’t want to cooperate with me. So I went with black and white instead. I haven’t practiced B&W shots too much so it was a fun challenge to think of what would look good without color.

From Below

Day 1: For my “From Below” topic I took a trip to the San Clemente Pier. The weather has been so gloomy so I thought it would make for a good black&white photo. It wasn’t my favorite shot as I tried to be quick, the tide was higher and I didn’t want to get trapped lol.

Create a scene

Day 2: I don’t know why but I LOVE pictures like this. It is my second favorite to Candid shots. On a walk with my little family I saw this moment and couldn’t help but snap a pic. I think it turned out pretty sweet for a quick little sneak it quick picture.

Just a hint

Day 3: Okay so this one isn’t black&white but I did mess around with my editing to try and tone down the colors so you mostly see just a hint of the green and yellow. For this picture I used a slow shutter speed. I waited about 10 minutes for a car to come and change the street lights to green because I loved how the green glared off the wet ground, and with the slow shutter speed and quick changing lights it caught the light turning from green to yellow. That was a cool bonus I wasn’t expecting and I do like to turnout!

On the Ground

Day 4: For those who don’t know me… I will use any excuse to photograph my dog. He is just so cute!

Looking Up

Day 5: Just looking up into the trees, wondering what it would be like to have skills of a monkey and just climb to the top.

Where I Stand

Day 6: For you fellow dog owners… where we stand is usually not too far from our furry children.. especially when we have food!

Re-create

Day 7: Maybe you all have seen those add’s for elephant pants.. maybe not. But I saw it and fell for it instantly. Who wouldn’t want a pair of elephant pants to lounge around in and sip your tea/coffee?! PLUS $1-$2 goes to help stop the poaching of elephants. Double score! So I re-created their add.. in b&w to go with my theme… and added my yummy yogi tea instead of coffee. My yogi words of wisdom this packet was “let things come to you.” A good reminder for the days I don’t feel very Inspired.

And that was my week! I made it! That was rough I gotta tell you. I think the hardest part for me is staying inspired to go out and snap pictures when I just get off a long days work and REALLY just want to lay on my couch and netflix binge. But they say that it will get easier the more I put it into routine. Are you doing the daily photo challenge? Have you wanted to try it out? What photos/scenes do you think of when you see the following categories? If you are doing the challenge Tag me in your Instagram photos I would LOVE to see them! Or share them with me here! Hope you enjoyed!

Toodles!

My Trip to Portland, OR

May 28, 2015May 28, 2015 / Sam / Leave a comment

Portland is a beautiful, eclectic, weird place full of great food, great beer, and an awesome vibe. It has a Downtown city feel but is Surrounded by water and trees. You really can get the best of both worlds here. Portland is exactly as fun and weird as you think it is. Street markets with booths full of handmade items, stores full of hipster-esque products, all the restaurants and breweries come with something unique, something different. You don’t find much “basic” stuff here and that’s what makes it so special.

See, they even like to remind the residents! lol!

I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time here as I wanted to. I really just decided to come for a day during my trip up north to visit my brother and sister-in-law. As they share my love for food and beer, they had an awesome day planned out for me! We started off the day with some coffee (the coffee here is amazing! doesn’t matter where you go, just get some coffee!) and bagels at Bowery Bagels. These bagels by the way are not just ordinary bagels… they are super delicious, scrumptious, take a dozen home with you on the plane type of bagels. You can’t have just one! After that we went walking around the area (we walked a LOT that day!!) There are so many cool and unique things to see in Portland. Even just simple stuff like this GIANT Chair on the sidewalk.

What I meant was that I’m actually in the land of giants and snuck up on their chair for a photo opp… just kidding. But its stuff like this that make this city so unique!

Next stop on the list was Rogue Brewery! As excited as I was to go here, I have to say it wasn’t the best for beer tasting. Most of their off the wall must try beers are only available in the bottle. But I still got to try some yummy beer and mark off Rogue Brewery from my brewery bucket list! SCORE!!

The next place on their list was Ice Cream!! They took me to this very unique and popular spot called Salt & Straw. And apparently they have a spot in LA too! This place was so good, we waited a good hour, hour and a half in line… it was well worth it. Just the flavor options alone will make you want to spend the whole day there trying samples!

And as far as most popular and well-known place that I had heard of before going to Portland, was Voodoo Donuts. They of course had that on the list too! But we decided to wait till later in the evening because that line will also take hours. I would definitely recommend going later, they are open 24 hours so you don’t have to wait with the rest of the crowd. And as there was still a line when we went it was way smaller than it had been earlier that day, perfect for an after dinner desert option!!

My brother got the famous maple bacon bar. Ohmygolly did it look scrumptious. I just had to get the Voodoo Doll one though. It’s cool because it comes with a pretzel and when you stab it into the donut, jelly comes out! it’s so weird and cool!

The next place we went was actually my favorite place yet. It’s called The Big Legrowlski.

It’s not a brewery or a bar, but a growler station. I’ve never seen a spot like this before. They carry all kinds of different beer and their list is ever-changing. You can get tasters for cheap and try each one if you want! I think I tried a fair amount there. If you like it, you can get a pint, and if you really love it, get a growler!

Besides the great beer options, what made this place so great was the owner. He was so friendly and really made the experience a fun one!

And that was my day in Portland! I definitely have to thank my brother and sister-in-law for planning out such a fun day! And I can’t wait to come back and see all the new places they have on their list! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and got some good ideas for your next trip to Portland! Have you been there before? What are some of your favorite places to go?

Cheers!

My Trip to Washington

May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 / Sam / 3 Comments

I’m not going to lie, I never thought Washington would be one of the states that would steal my heart… But it did. The fact 2 of my best friends live there definitely helped, but being born and raised in Southern California all I could think about was how GREEN and beautiful it was!

These pictures were taken at a place called Deception Pass, where we went hiking through all the beautiful trees.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE coffee. Coffee is the best, so of course when you’re in Washington you must try a coffee house! We went to a coffee house called Waterfront Coffee Company in a city called Edmonds. They had the coolest names for their sizes so I had to take a picture!

Of course no good coffee house comes without an awesome talented barista who makes your coffee look beautiful like this

Besides coffee, my other favorite thing is of course food. So I told my friends while I was there I wanted 2 things… a good food place and some good beer! They did NOT disappoint! In Seattle there is this small little place called Beth’s Café. OH MY GOODNESS, if you ever go to Seattle you HAVE to go there! Unfortunately I was so excited to try the food that I forgot to take a picture of it, but the place is so unique that I got a couple pictures of it to share with you all. When you walk into the café you are instantly surrounded by walls and walls of colorful pictures. And when you get sat at your table, your host gives you menu’s, a stack of plain white paper, and some crayons. I’m not creative but I did draw some fun Harry Potter references. As for the food I got what’s called a “Northsider” which was Cheddar, swiss, and american cheeses, Chili, and onions piled onto a large mound of hash browns, topped with tomatoes. Served with sour cream and salsa. If your a vegetarian or like the occasional “non meat dish” they offer a vegetarian chili that is AMAZING!

Seattle is also one of the homes to the Pyramid Brewery. A few years back me and my boyfriend visited the one in San Francisco and it was really good, so I thought I would see what Seattle’s location had to offer.

My favorite was the Blackberry Rye. It was one of their special only served in house beers so I bought a growler to take home with me!

Also in Seattle there is a bar that serves tons of craft beers, its called Uber Tavern. This place was also very unique because all of their tables had board games molded onto them! I went in the fall so they had this pumpkin spice ale from a brewery in New York. Really Delicious!

Drinking beer and playing scrabble, it was a fun night out! (even though I lost)

The last part of my trip was walking around and exploring downtown Seattle. We went to the fist Starbucks at Pike Place, and did the underground tour. Sam’s are very popular in Seattle.

And that was my trip to Washington! The green, the gloomy weather, the good food, coffee, beer, sites, friends…. it was all just amazing. And the people are so nice! I can’t wait to go back!

Have you visited Seattle or other cities in Washington? What places did you go to? What are some other must see/try places? Leave a comment I’d love to hear about your experiences!

The Riders Club Cafe – San Clemente, California

May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 / Sam / Leave a comment

What better way to start off this blog than to start off at one of my FAVORITE local spots! I moved to South Orange County 4 years ago and its never disappointed on great places to eat. But this spot is the top place I recommend people as it is home to the BEST Burger I have EVER HAD!

Yep, that’s right. BEST. BURGER. EVER!

The Riders Club Cafe is a small local spot in San Clemente, California. They use quality ingredients (which is proven in every bite) and is made fresh there. The Burgers are big, the buns are soft, the toppings are exquisite. Everything about this burger is just plain delicious. If you don’t eat beef they do offer other options such as chicken, veggie patty, and my other favorite… the Portobello mushroom burger. Each item comes with your choice of kettle chips or house pickled beets. For the Beer lovers… they keep a small collection of craft beers on tap that are always changing. Burgers and Beer for lunch? YES PLEASE!!