I can’t believe I didn’t ever post these pictures. Sometime in December, I took a small group of students along with our community outreach coordinator to Google. He planned it all, I mostly showed up cause it sounded like an amazing … Continue reading
I don’t know about you, but I was a little late to the game on being obsessed with Serial. Have you heard about this podcast series? I listened to the first episode of two a while back with my brother whilst driving to Tahoe one long snowy trip last winter. Then I kinda forgot all about it.
Well, during my trip to Maui a few weeks back, I kinda listened to seasons one and two. It just, kinda happened! They are the easiest podcasts to listen to, I swear! In season one the author Sarah Koenig investigates the murder of a young girl name Hae Min Lee in Baltimore in 1999. A while later, her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed is arrested and later convicted of killing her, and is currently serving life in prison. She interviews just about anyone she could to see if he really did it.
Season two is a bit more recent, and focuses on a U.S soldier named Bowe Bergdahl who was a POW of the Taliban for about 5 years, and was only recently released. Most recently, the army has charged him and is investigating the particulars of why he walked off from his post.
I mostly just laid out on the beach and had my headphone in and played episode after episode, it was just that good.
Have you gotten into either season one or two of Serial? Any other podcasts I should get into?
Love,
-S
For most of the week we were pretty low-key. We ate breakfast at our condo and had a slow morning. Then we would pack up our stuff, picked up some spam musubi’s, mango bread and coffee, and hit the beach. Often mid-day we needed a pick-me up, and upon the advice from friends and family we stopped at Ululani’s for a refreshing shaved ice.
It was honestly the best shaved ice I had ever had. They take filtered island water, and freeze it in big chunks, that they then shave down to make the ice. The first time I went for my usual childhood trifecta favorite of : lime, grape and cherry. A was more adventurous and tried tropical flavors. I tasted her’s, and agreed the flavors were amazing. The next day, my shaved ice flavors were passion orange, coconut and pineapple. I wish we could bottle that shaved ice up and have them here all the time, they were so good!
Have you had any food traveling that you wish you could have all the time at home?
Love,
-S
This last week I was on holiday with A. We had decided in early January that we wanted to do a week in Hawaii, and had been trying for months to get our group of friends to commit. When we saw that we had the same week off for our February break, the first time we had overlapping breaks in the last few years, we booked our flights to Maui later that week.
In many ways, A and I are different. But in our love of travel, we are the same. I booked the rental car, and she a lovely, recently updated condo through VRBO. The last week of work I was simply counting down the days until there was sunshine, beaches and fruity drinks in my hand!
The first day we picked up groceries at whole food and then hit the beach after dropping our stuff off the the condo. We lounged for a while, and then picked up some delicious food at a tasty restaruarant called Nalu’s.
I ate this fantastic thing.
I need to find more places down here in San Jose that have acai bowls, as I’ve recently come to find that they are amazing and I don’t know where they have been all my life.
Any acai bowl places you would recommend? Any recipes I should try to make at home?
Love,
-S
About three years ago I fell in love with a Panama hat at J.Crew. I wouldn’t normally have liked or even bought something like that, but I don’t know, something about that hat spoke to me!
And surprisingly enough, I wear it decently often, to the beach with friends, on holiday with my family, to the park on a sunny day. Then two years ago when my dad and I visited L.A. I was looking for a big sun hat for long days at the beach. We found one at Manhattan beach as we were walking along that I liked, really simple with a black ribbon and bow.
Now, I can’t see to walk into a store without finding another hat I like! I like that they hide my sometimes messy wind-blown hair, they keep my nose from getting sunburnt, and they seem to take my outfits a step cooler.
I’ve been looking to add another sun hat, and there are so many great options out now. I might just have to pick one up.
I want all of them! Are you a hat person? What do you do to keep your face from getting too much sun?
Love,
-S
Last weekend my best friend A and I went to the mall, officially looking for bathing suits for Maui. I had my mind on another piece of clothing that I wanted to try on to see if I loved it in person as much as I loved it online. I was thinking, no dreaming of a J.Crew vest that I had spied on their website a few days earlier. I usually like to look at my purchases online and consider them for a few days before making the purchase to make sure I will use it and love it.
We tried on a few things (ok, really we just tried on hats, see above photos) at Nordstroms before making our way over to J.Crew. I tried on the vest and promptly fell in love. I seem to love all things navy, and gingham, and this jacket had pockets! It was in short, the golden trifecta!
I took it home and am now thinking about naming it. Any suggestions? Have you ever had a piece of clothing that you just had to have?
Love,
-S
I personally love Valentines day. It’s fun to pull out a nice outfit, do your hair and makeup, treat yourself even to a new nail-polish, fuzzy new socks, tasty meal or a new book. I think of Valentines day as a day … Continue reading
I really like the motto of working hard so that you can play hard. And for me, playing hard always means relaxing somewhere warm on a sunny beach. My 2015 resolution was to travel more, and that means regularly putting some money aside for a later date to have fun somewhere new!
Often I’m pretty busy, between working a full time teaching job, babysitting around 25 hours a week. Sometimes I’ll sneak in time for a workout, or to grab dinner with either friends or family. When at home, I’m usually washing up some dishes, trying to get a load of laundry done, finishing lessonplans/powerpoints for work and sleeping! I do tend to relax in the form of watching a show for an hour or so in the later evenings.
I usually need to block out time for a trip before I’m able to put away my endless to-do lists, and pull out a fun book! On Monday, my girlfriend and I will be flying to Maui for 5 days, and I couldn’t be more excited to unplug, and enjoy lots of down time
I’ve been on the hunt for a new bathing suit, and even though its a bit early in the season to be shopping for summer, there are tons of choices online that I’ve been eying.
So many have cute back details! I’ve been mostly leaning towards one pieces because I think they will be more comfortable under my swim shirt when I’m snorkeling.
La Blanca *image from Nordstroms website
image from American Eagle Audrey 1 piece
image from American Eagle Audrey One Piece
image from American Eagle Audrey Bikini
image of Tommy Bahama from Nordstroms Website
There are so many cute choices out there! Any places that you love to score a new bathing suit? Do you prefer a one piece or a bikini?
Love,
-S
My mother and I have tried making macarons before, to a limited degree of success. As such, my mother conspired to sign the two of us up for a baking class at Sur La Table. Last weekend, my mother and … Continue reading
Two weeks ago my best friend Annie and i flew to Florida. We have had this trip planned since last fall, and to say we were excited is a bit of an understatement. We flew out Friday and stayed at a local hotel adjacent to the park. We ended up getting a park to park pass so we could visit Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, which were basically the only two sections of the Universal Studios Park that we were interested in.
It was, without a doubt, the best weekend I’d had in a long time! We started off in Hogsmeade and then took the train over to Diagon Alley. I took a ton of photos, so this might be a long post.
I was like a kid in the candy shop, running around looking at everything and snapping a ton of photos. It was beautiful and sunny day. I tried the butterbeer nervously, but it was delicious! MY favorite was walking through all of the amazing decorations that that mimic’d things from the book (potions classroom, great hall, etc) as we waited in line for the ride inside of the castle.
I ended up getting a Chocolate Frog and a Gryffindor wax seal as my two momentos for the day. I feel like I need to have some sort of a harry potter party as an excuse to use my new seal!
Are you a harry potter fan? Are you excited about the new harry potter Hogsmeade coming to L.A this spring?
Love,
-S
Classy and Fabulous 
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