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 :)

My Mom Visits the OC

I can't believe May is almost over! I've spent another amazing month here in paradise. This last weekend was especially amazing because I got to share it with my Mother aka my best friend. I'm extremely close to my Mom so being away from her is one of the hardest parts of living here in California. I didn't get to see her for her birthday or Mother's Day so I was excited to celebrate, catch up, and show her around the OC. She was here Saturday-Wednesday which didn't feel close to long enough. We had a great time, and were lucky enough to be able to fit in everything we wanted to do. 
On Saturday we went to the Irvine Spectrum which I've blogged about before. A quick recap: the spectrum is an outdoor mall with shops, restaurants, ferris wheel, fountains, outdoor music, etc. We ended up going to The Cheesecake Factory because honestly who doesn't love The Cheesecake Factory? We ate way too much food and ended up going home and watching countless episodes of Friends on DVD. Watching Friends has always been one of our favorite things to do together. On Sunday morning we first went to The Top of the World in Laguna Beach which I've blogged about before. We hiked to the highest point and then sat and enjoyed the view while catching up and talking for hours. Next we went to the beach at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach, again which I've blogged about before. Here we laid in the sun, listened to the waves, and explored tide pools in the rocks. For dinner we went to my favorite restaurant so far, K'ya Bistro in Laguna Beach. They specialize in tapas so you can get a lot of different food items for a reasonable price. My favorite dish on the menu is the lobster risotto. Everything we've had there has been amazing. The restaurant can get loud and crowded, but it is worth it for a delicious meal. 

Top of the World, the mountain side

The ocean side

Crystal Cove State Park 

Peaceful

I love the color of that water

Taking our Christmas photo early this year

Feeling extra blessed to have the people I love here with me

Watching the sunset

Laguna Beach

My beautiful Mother

K'ya Bistro 

On Monday we went to the most magical place on Earth...Disneyland! We bought tickets online the day before and were able to print them out to avoid the lines at the park. We paid $17 for parking and had to be shuttled over to the park on a bus. There are two parks, Disneyland and California Adventure. We only bought one day one park passes so we chose to go to Disneyland. I was hoping that since we were going on a Monday there wouldn't be long lines. There was still about an hour wait for all the rides, but I'm sure it is better than what it would be in the summer. I grew up going to Disney World, and even though I knew the two parks are not comparable, I was a little disappointed. I did appreciate seeing where the Disney franchise had started and where it has come over the last 75+ years. My favorite rides were Splash Mountain and Matterhorn Bobsleds. The day was really long and exhausting, but I'm glad I got to share the first time experience with my Mom. 

Walt Disney 

Buzz

Thor protecting us 

Snack time 

Bobsled ride 

Storybook Land 

Splash Mountain

Princess castle 

When I was growing up, my Mom would wake me up bright and early every Sunday morning to watch Hour of Power on TV which is a televised church service that is based out of Garden Grove, CA. On Tuesday morning we finally decided to go to the place we had seen on TV for all those years. Unfortunately when we got to the Crystal Cathedral we found out due to finical difficulties the church had been bought by the Catholic church and has since been renamed the Christ Cathedral. The main cathedral is closed until 2016 when renovations are complete, but we were able to walk the grounds with a tour guide and explore. The cathedral even from just the outside is breathtaking. Made completely of glass panes, you can see the reflections of palm tress and blue skies. It was sad to see the place and family that we had religiously (no pun intended) watched for all those years now gone. Although it is not the place I remember exactly from my childhood, it is still magical and I highly recommend a trip here. 

So tall you can see it from miles away 

My Mom bought a "brick" on that wall somewhere

The original church before the stunning Crystal Cathedral was built  

Fountains, my favorite 

Blue skies 

Palm trees

Reflections 

Looking up

The school on the grounds 

More fountains 

The cemetery 

Culture Center 

The million dollar bathroom

What the glass panes look like from the other side

My momma 

What the inside of the cathedral looks like now

I love water!

I was sad to see my Mom leave on Wednesday morning, but I'll be home in a few weeks for a wedding. I had so much fun with her and loved spending quality time together. With the upcoming holiday weekend I can't wait to share what my boyfriend and I end up doing!

XoXo,

Valerie

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