June Wrap Up

Hello blog family,
I apologize for my absence over the last month. I was doing a great job of blogging every week until I went home for a friend's wedding, took a weekend to relax, got sick, but now I am back! I hope you all can forgive me :) June was a great month and I have lots to catch you up on. The month started with me flying home to PA for a wedding for one of my best friends from high school. He was the first out of group of friends to get married and although it is surreal that we are now at the age of getting married, I couldn't be happier for him. The ceremony, food, music, everything was perfect.  I can't remember the last time I had that much fun and danced for that long. I am truly blessed to still be great  friends with my friends from high school even after I've been moving all over the country for the last 2 years. They mean the world to me, and I don't know what I would do without their love and support. The night was truly amazing,  and I was so happy I flew the 3,000 miles to be in the presence of two people who truly love each other. Congrats to the happy couple!

After all these years, we're still friends

Wedding ceremony, I cried the entire time

I'm so happy for you Banji! 

My favorite... 2006 (junior prom) to 2014. Not much has changed 

When I got back to California after flying 6,000 miles in less than 48 hours, I really needed a R&R weekend. Instead of spending all weekend relaxing, my boyfriend suggested that we go to Santa Monica Pier for a wine festival. We've been to the famous pier before but I really wasn't impressed especially because it was way too crowded. I was skeptical about going back, but the festival was secluded and you needed tickets to get in. Tickets were each $60 which allowed you try as many different wines as you wanted from 5-9pm. Honestly, I don't think I got my money's worth since I am a light weight, but the festival was really fun. There are tons of different wine booths were you can try all local red and whites and great food trucks. We made sure to take a "lyft" home after all that wine and we also didn't have to pay for parking. What a great idea! Overall the wine festival was a great time and I am glad we ended up going. 

Back at the pier, still didn't ride the roller coaster

What a great day with my boo

Some of the craziness from the festival

After my first trip to LA a few weeks ago, I was still unsure how I felt about the city. I've mentioned before I am not much of a city girl and feel uncomfortable outside of perfect suburbia. I decided to give it another try when we went to a LA Dodgers vs St. Louis Cardinals baseball game last weekend. The weather was absolutely beautiful as was the stadium. I think anything surrounded with palm trees is amazing though. Since I didn't grow up in California, anytime I see palm trees (which is every single day) I feel like I am on vacation. Still not sure if it has hit me that I actually live here. The Dodgers killed the Cardinals so the energy in the stadium was great. I wasn't into the game as much because I didn't really care who won. Of course I was wearing my Phillies gear as a true Philadelphia would. It was a perfect way to spend an afternoon and I'm glad I gave LA another chance. 

Game time

Dugout 

Play ball!

Outside the stadium

View of LA

I hope everyone had a great weekend celebrating the birthday of our great country. Happy 4th of July! My boyfriend and I took most of the weekend to be lazy and catch up on sleep. I love those kind of weekends more than anything! We did go to dinner and watch fireworks on Friday in Downtown Disney. I went to Disneyland when my Mom was here last month, but I didn't get to explore Downtown Disney while I was there. It is a cute little area with stores, restaurants, and of course has that Disney flare. Parking was hard to find and ended up costing $20 for the night but you could get your money back after validating that you ate at one of the designated restaurants. We went to eat at Catal which is considered a Mediterranean restaurant but it was more upscale than the typical Mediterranean food I am used to. For an appetizer I had the Manchego salad with apples and candied walnuts and my boyfriend had the stuffed calamari. For our main course I had the risotto and my boyfriend had the lobster paella. Both were incredible. Along with alcohol and tip our meal ended up costing $200. The real reason we went to this particular restaurant was to see the world famous Disney fireworks. At 9:30 when the fireworks starting going off we realized that our table was in a bad spot and the fireworks were blocked by some buildings. The show only lasted for about 10 minutes and I was honestly disappointed in Disney. Even though we waited 3 hours at this restaurant for the disappointing fireworks, I still had an amazing night with my love and felt blessed to have shared it with him.

The beautiful flowers my boo bought me. I love them!

Menu

Enjoying my margarita waiting for fireworks 

Lobster paella 

My risotto

Overlooking Downtown Disney

Our view of the blocked fireworks 

This upcoming weekend I am super excited because my Dad and sisters are coming to visit California for a week and a half. I can't wait to share all the fun things we get to do together. Until next time...

XoXo,

Valerie 

Memorial Day Weekend- THANKFUL

I hope everyone is recovering nicely from their long Memorial Day weekend. I think it is important to first thank all the brave men and women, past and present, who protect the freedoms that we take for granted everyday. THANK YOU! 

I sometimes forget just how truly blessed I am which is one reason why I love writing this blog. I frequently go back and read old posts to remind myself of all the amazing things I've had the opportunity to do. Recently I've been really amazed with where my life is and the journey that I took to get here. About a year ago I read the book "The Magic" by Rhonda Byrne who also wrote "The Secret" and "The Power". She recommends that you write down a list of 10 things a day for a month that you are currently thankful for in your life. At the end of the month I had over 300 things written down on my list. I didn't realize until I was staring down at this paper just how much I have to be thankful for, the things I had always taken for granted. Everything from my health, my parents health, having a job that I love, having a boyfriend who loves me, my freedom, being able to afford the things I need, the list goes on and on. Whenever I have a bad day I always look at my list so I can remind myself of how truly blessed I am. I stopped writing the list after the 30 days, but I now see that I could add so many more things that I am appreciate of in my life today. This weekend especially reminded me of that. All over my social media accounts people were taking vacations and spending the long weekend making trips to the beach. This alone makes me smile with gratitude. Realizing what most people consider a vacation, I call my normal, everyday life. I sometimes still can't believe that this is actually my real life. 

Still so surreal 

I think my boyfriend and I both just needed a weekend to catch up on sleep and relax. There was talks about making a trip up to San Francisco, but I wasn't prepared to make the 6+ hour drive on such little sleep. We spent the weekend mostly catching up on our shows on DVR, going to a few restaurants, and of course going to the beach. A pretty low key weekend for us. 

Perfect beach day 

When you pay at little extra, you get the beach all to yourself 

Found a small waterfall on the beach

As close as we will ever get to drinking on a California beach 

Walking path from the beach back to our car

Now that we've had a relaxing weekend, I'm sure we will be back to finding new adventures and exploring new parts of Southern California this upcoming weekend. 

XoXo,

Valerie 

PS- I'm also thankful for all of you, my blog family :)

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all the Moms out there had a great Mother's Day weekend. Although I didn't get to spend the holiday with my Mom I am super excited because she is coming to visit me this upcoming weekend. I can't wait to show her where I live and work and why I feel in love with California. Of course I will blog about everything that we do together. I know I usually post my new blogs on Monday, but I had to wait for my disposable waterproof camera to be developed. You'll see why later in this post.
This past weekend's weather was really beautiful, but let's be honest, when is it ever not perfect? On Saturday morning we went to the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, CA. Our purpose for going was to ride on the huge orange balloon that goes up 400 feet in the air and on a clear day overlooks 40 miles of the OC. Unfortunately when we got there to buy tickets ($10 per person but parking is free) we were told by the visitors center that the balloon wasn't going up because it was too windy. I suggest calling ahead to make sure the balloon is operating. Since we were already there we decided to make the best of it. There is also a carousel for the kids, food trucks, kids parks, sports fields, live music, and a flower and fruit garden. We hung out most of the time in the flower and fruit garden checking out all the fruits that grow locally in Southern California. They grow everything from oranges (obviously it's Orange County), to blueberries, avocados, apples, peaches, strawberries, and many more fruits and veggies. They even have a chicken coop with about 8 live chickens where they sell the fresh eggs to the public. I really want to go back on a Sunday morning when they have the local farmers market from 10-2 and get to ride the helium balloon while shopping for some fresh food http://www.ocgp.org/visit/balloon/

Sign at the entrance 

Apparently too windy to go up

Visitors Center

Kids carousel 

Grapes

Apples

Some oranges in the OC

Blueberries 

Roses

Strawberries

Peaches

Beautiful flowers

Avocado 

Chicken coop

More chickens

I'm a butterfly

After our not so successful trip in the morning we decided to look on Groupon for some good deals being offered in our area. We ended up purchasing a wine tasting at the Orange Coast Winery in Newport Beach. The Groupon costs $39 which includes sampling of six wines for two, two wineglasses, a gourmet cheese platter, and one bottle of wine that you get to take home worth $29 https://www.groupon.com/deals/orange-coast-winery-1-14 The store is in a really weird industrial area where you wouldn't expect a winery to be but once inside you forget about it. Our server Colin was nice and informative about what wines to try based on our different preferences. I stuck to whites and my boyfriend stayed with the reds. We were both able to find one that we really liked and took a home a bottle of the Orange Bubbly. The cheese platter was pretty good, but I love all cheese so I'm easy to please. The samplings were just that, and a bit of a tease, so after we tasted all the wines we bought one full glass of wine before leaving. The only suggestion I would make to the store is to offer some bar stools. After standing and drinking for over an hour my feet and back started to hurt. The winery has some room for improvement, but overall it was well worth the money. 

The wine list

Cheers

Inside the store

Bottles of wine for purchase

With my boo

Delicious cheese

Endless summer

Store front

The best and most exciting part of the weekend for me was Sunday morning when we were invited to go paddle boarding with some friends at Balboa Peninsula near Newport Beach. We rented our boards from Balboa Boat Rentals which is right on the "boardwalk" of the peninsula. For the two boards and the paddles it ended up costing us $50 for a 2 hour rental. Make sure you bring a credit card and an id for them to hold on to while you are out on the water. We went around the entire Balboa Island which is about two miles. The first part was easy and relaxing since we were going with the wind. We got to see all the boats on the water, the beautiful houses, and even a few sea lion sun bathing on boats. As soon as we circled around the island and was paddling into the wind, I didn't think I would make it back. Standing up on the board surprisingly wasn't hard for me at all but paddling into the wind was almost impossible. I would paddle as hard as I could, but I would end up moving 10 feet backwards. My arms as definitely sore but my first time paddle boarding was so much fun and great exercise. I really want to go back maybe on a day that is not so windy to enjoy the full experience.  

Our trail around Balboa Island

Sea lions chilling on a boat

Look at that balance 

With my boo

Tons of boats 

Where we rented from 

The boardwalk with rides 

Prices

Ferry 

Balboa Village 

Have a great week! I can't wait to share what me and my Mom do this weekend.

XoXo,

Valerie