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 :)

Derby Day

Happy Monday and Cindo de Mayo blog family! How was everyone's weekend? I've been exhausted from work so we spent a lot of time this weekend relaxing and catching up on sleep. On Saturday we woke up bright and early to go to the  Santa Anita Park to watch some horse races and California Chrome in the Kentucky Derby. We bought our tickets online the night before since they were half off with a promo code. Our general admission tickets (half off at $12.50) included the ticket, 2 tickets for beer, and horse betting information. The park is about an hour North of the OC and had free parking which is always nice. Once we got inside not only were there races going on, but there was also tons of different food trucks, bounce houses, live music, corn hole  and many more fun activities going on. I recommend the Lobster truck and get either the lobster or crab sandwich with butter. To die for! We just hung around in the beer gardner, which is in the middle of the track, and drank some beer and ate great food while enjoying the races. Of course my boyfriend was betting on the horses and actually ended up winning on the majority of the races he bet on. We also went into the stands to watch some races up closer. Then we went inside into the cool AC and watched from the VIP area. We even got to go to the winners circle and see the winning horses with the owners and jockey. The best part of the day was getting to watch the home town horse California Chrome win the Kentucky Derby on the big screen. I think everyone there was betting on him to win and the place went crazy when he did! This was a really great day with lots of fun things to do. 

Tailgating outside 

Food trucks 

Bounce house

Beer tents 

Beer garden 

Enjoying the beautiful weather 

And they're off! 

Talk derby to me 

Racing on the dirt

Cornhole 

Look at that view 

Waiting to race

Inside watching the races

The winning ticket! California Chrome!

Grey Goose winners circle 

One of the winners with the owners and jockey

Have a great week everyone!

XoXo,

Valerie