Just Any Other Weekend

This weekend was super eventful. I’m so grateful to be able to say I live in a place as beautiful as Santa Barbara. On friday night my friends came over and we rented movies and ordered KFC. It was so nice just having a girls night and watching some chick flicks whilst eating some bomb mac and cheese and fried chicken.

Saturday was cinco de mayo which meant party time. My friends and I made a beautiful breakfast consisting of sausage, bacon, and fruit. It was so yummy and we enjoyed it on my front porch. We were already discussing and planning our plans for the night.

For the rest of the day we went to my friend Ainsley’s house and spent our day by the pool. She had recently just redone it and it was absolutely stunning. After the mudslide things got a little messy so we were unable to go in it for quite sometime, but let me tell you the wait was well worth it! After hours of swimming and sunbathing we got showered, make dinner, and got ready to go to our friend Kailani’s. She was having people over for Cinco De Mayo.

There was basically the entire sophomore class at her house and it was super fun. We all listened to music and hung out for a few hours until my friends and I went back to Zoe’s house. When we got there we all just talked and then decided around 2 AM it was time to shut some eye and we all fell asleep instantly.

The next day we woke up to Zoe making us hash browns, English muffins, and bacon. We also made mocha coffee and it was so amazing and creamy. We stayed in our PJs until 1 in the afternoon until I decided I needed to go home and get showered. When I got home some friends came over again and we worked on homework and hung out. We were also all discussing our plans for what we need to do this summer which got us all so excited for what’s ahead of us. only one more month left of school, thank god!!

Little Things

This weekend was like any other except the fair was an unfamiliar addition. On friday night I went to the fair with 5 other friends, I was so excited for of course the rides but more so for the carmamel apples, cotton candy, and most importantly the funnel cakes. We went got there we started out easy on the rides and went for the swings. Although the swings aren’t scary, they will always be a favorite of mine. Because who doesn’t like feeling as if they were flying? 

Shortly after the fair we went back to our friend Jacqueline’s and hung out for the remainder of the night playing board games and watching movies. It was a perfect end to a perfect night.

Saturday morning I woke up and went to DeAngelos with my mom. I got their waffles with a side of bacon and potatoes and their freshly squeezed OJ. My mom had an omlete and tea. This is my favorite place for breakfast I love the little location of it and everyone who works there is so nice, plus they’re dog friendly so we brought mine along with us!

Later that night some friends and I went back to my house and my friend Lexi brought her camera and we took a bunch of stupid photos together that ended up looking pretty cool actually.

This one was my favorite. My living room gives off a really retro feeling and I feel like these photos made us look like we were on an episode of That 70’s Show. We ordered pizza, walked to Marymount, a school by my house and went on the swings and just hung out on the playground for a while feeling like we were back in third grade again. I love my friends so much and I’m so happy I still have a full two years left with them before we go out separate ways! We always seems to have the most fun doing the most simple things, I’ve noticed it’s just each other’s presence that makes everything the way it is. We all have our own little personalities and quriks which makes us the group of friends we are.

Sleepless in Seattle

I went to Seattle with my mom and sister to visit my sister who goes to University of Washington for parent weekend. I love visiting my sister in Seattle, it’s become one of my favorite cities and I also love seeing the campus and her sorority, it makes me excited for my future and college. 

The plane ride coming in and leaving Washington is breathtaking. Mount Vernon is always covered in snow it looks so unreal. It’s so convenient to visit my sister becayse the plane ride is only an hour and a half and directly from Santa Barbara to Seattle. I fell asleep on the plane and when I woke up becayse we were about to land it felt like it only took 15 minutes to travel here, it was crazy. 

Ironically when we arrived it was a Dawg Saturday as they like to say. It was a football game and my sisters and I all had fun at the tailgate we went to. It was really nice meeting all of my sisters friends, they were all so nice and funny and I could see why she loved her school so much because of how the cool people she’s surrounded by are.

Pike Place Market is hands down one of the coolest parts of Seattle. It’s right on the water and is a huge market that sells everything imagineable. flowers, freshly caught fish, fruit, apple cider, spices, jewelry, frozen yogurt, the list goes on! I also have to mention how amazing the coffee is here. I mean it has to be considering this is where the first Starbucks was ever made.

Another part of Seattle that I absolutely adore is what some would call the Hippie Land. I could see why, driving into this part of town you start seeing organic juice and vegan shops everywhere you turn and everyone wearing birkenstocks carrying hydro flasks. But it was so much fun because it was also so animal friendly and there were places for dogs to get food at likethis one pictured above. There were also little thrift shops and I ended up buying Levi jeans and a really cool pullover. Seattle is hands down one of my favorite places in the world.

Flower Empower

This weekend I needed to get my community service hours in for Nation Charity League. It’s a local club in Santa Barbara and you need twenty hours every year. My favorite place to get my hours done is at The Dream Foundation. I usually go in and make scrap books for patients who grant a wish and then send letters thanking them for making them come true. But this weekend I did the bouquets. You make them for the sick patients in hospitals. I did it with my friend Ainsley.

After two hours of flower-making, we decided to go get some lunch. I was craving fish tacos and she was craving a poke bowl so we went to Kanaloa Seafood. It’s downtown next to Breakfast so we also got some drinks. I got a chai latte and I can tell you now salom tacos and chai lattes don’t go so well together…

When we finished lunch we went to the beach and met up with the rest of our friends. We played spike ball, (attempted to play) football, and went swimming. 

Later that night we went back to my friend Sienna’s and made pasta and watched movies. The next morning I woke and walked to LF, a clothing store in Santa Barbara. They asked me if I wanted to take photos with them because their new summer line just came in. It was really fun they gave me three different outfits to try on and we walked all around town taking photos. The first outfit was my favorite it was a polka dot dress with a denim jacket and black and white heels. We went to the courthouse and worn into the mural room, it was really pretty in there. 

The next outfit was black shorts, a blue graphic tee, and a black backpack. The girls who were taking the photos were super nice and afterwards bought me Panda Express. If any of you girls who are reading this haven’t been in LF to check out their new stuff I definitely encourage you to do so! Everything is super cute and perfect for summer. 🙂

Livin’ the SLO Life

This weekend my friend Sage and I decided to go for a little get-away. I have never spent the night down in San Louis Obispo, only quick pit-stops during road trips. I love the town and my sister was thinking of going to Cal Poly so we made a weekend of it. We took the train early Saturday morning and refused to drive because everyone says the train ride is  beautiful.

When we got there we arrived at the sweet, little inn we were staying he night at. It’s called Applefarm Inn and it was super close walking distance to downtown. It feels like you’re at your grandma’s house when you walk in. Everything is super antique and floral, vintage wall paper and furniture. We were greeted with warm apple- cinnamon tea and chocolate cookies.

After settled into our rooms, we changed into clean clothes and hit the town. We met up with our friend Niko and decided to look through all the little shops and then find a place to eat. Everyone is so nice in this town, I mean who wouldn’t be? It’s so happy and and everyone has no reason not to be friendly. We were acting like real tourists and had to take photos in the famous Bubblegum Alley.

After we had our fun and made our make on the wall of our own piece up gum (pretty gross honestly), we made our way to a tavern to grub.

I easily had the best chicken sliders in my life and we ended the meal with a gooey chocolate brownie skillet. It was so much fun to have a dinner shared with my two friends in this town. Everything felt super joyful and when we got back to our hotel room Sage and i curled up into bed and watched old chick flicks. It was the perfect end to the perfect day. I would love to live in Slo for a little at some point in my life. Who knows maybe Cal Poly will be apart of my application list? I can’t wait for the next time I visit this place.

Spring Broken

This break went by all too fast. One week felt more like 3 days. I had the option to go to Mammoth with my family but I knew I couldn’t miss out of this week’s weather. Classic Santa Barbara blue skies was just what I needed after weeks of rain! So therefore I felt no remorse in saying no thank you to Mammoth and yes please to staying home. I started every morning the right way, waking up no earlier than 10 and feasting on the biggest, yummiest breakfast. This usually consisted off bacon, eggs, and corn pancakes with of course my fat cup of coffee. One morning my friend and I decided to start our day off with a hike to 7 Falls. We were really excited because we knew there would be lots of water. An hour and half later we finally made it to the very top. The water was freezing but so beautiful.

One of our nights we spent at Butterfly watching the sunset and eating Via Vai pizza. Shortly after we went to Pinkberry and had to stop and take a photo of Ainsley and her dream Triumph. After we got the froyo we went back and binge watched Black Mirror. It was the perfect girls night.

Lastly, my Easter was beautiful. I woke up a little earlier than I wanted but it was worth it because when I went to church for mass it really nice. I felt like I got a better grasp of why we celebrate Easter. After mass we went to my uncle’s ranch. He has zebras so I was pretty excited to see them. Everything was so green driving up and it truly felt like Spring. When we finally made it up the mountain i was ecstatic to see the buffet of tacos and cupcakes and rushed in line to get some before it was all gone. I had a really great time with my cousins and the rest of my family and couldn’t have asked for a better way to end break however I am counting down the days for summer

The Concrete Jungle

I can easily say New York City is one of my absolute favorite places in the world. I love the city and what it has to offer. Last year my family and I decided to spend part of our winter break in this magical city. The day we landed it was on my birthday, we were all super hungry and I got to choose where we ate. I have heard about the famous JG Melon from numerous celebrities and I wanted to see what all the hype was about.

Turns out the hype was real. This burger was so simple yet so good. It was your classic cheeseburger except it was better. Maybe it was just the environment and how happy I was to be in the city that made it taste like no other, but I’m also concvinced they sprinkled a special, secret ingredient. After basically devouring this in a matter of seconds, my mom ordered a berry cobbler with of course a birthday candle ;).

The rest of the majority of the day resulted to about a total of 8 miles in walking distance. Normally for me this wouldn’t be so bad, but considering the highest was 40 degrees it was a little painful. It wasn’t snowing which made a little mad but it still felt festive. My sister and I made the stupid decision of getting rolled icecream just because we knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that weren’t planning on passing up no matter how cold it was. Little Italy is definitely one of  my favorite places in New York City.

We spent one of our last days going to Broadway and seeing the famous play, Hamilton. I’m not going to lie when I say I wasn’t too thrilled to go sit and watch a 3 hour play. But my dad convinced my sisters and I this was going to be an extraordinary experience.

He was right. Everythiunbg about this play was humerous, heartbreaking, and exciting. You fell in love with all the characters and all the songs. My family and I bought the album and played it over and over again for months. I will never get tired of coming to visit this city.

Batta Batta Swang

This weekend was unusually cold and rainy in Santa Barbara. But hey, I’m not complaining because Montecito is safe and we need the agua! Although I sure do miss going to the beach, I thought I would taking this unfamiliar weather to it’s advantage was the best way to go. My friend Gisella and I decided to go on a little nature walk which into more of a huge hike, but oh well the view was worth it. It’s all about the climb 😉

The next day it was luckily a lot warmer. A lot of kids and I decided to get lunch at Shoreline. I hadn’t been there in so long and it definitely brought back some good old childhood memories! I know I couldn’t go wrong with their famous, classic fish tacos. Eating them I forgot just how good they actually were.

After curving our hungry appetites we thought it would be a fun idea to go to the batting cages. I always drive past East Beach batting cages but never actually have had the opportunity of going so I was excited. When we got there it was a super cool atmosphere and right by the cages was East Beach Tacos. And let me tell you, these tacos looked almost better than the ones I just had. I knew whether or not I would have fun at the cages, that I would definitely be back for the food.

Well, lucky for me turns out I will be returning for not only the tacos, but the batting as well. It was surprisingly super cheap too! for 20 hits it was only $2.75. We started out in the 45 MPH cage, just to warm up. However, let me tell you, the acceleration from 45 to 80 is all too much. We were a little unprepared to say the least. Caden ended up literally breaking a bat in half. We were all pretty confused as to how it happened, but he was sure it was because of how strong he is obviously. We were pretty worried about what the guy would say when he returned half of the bat, but he ended up actually giving Caden an extra token and happily a new, whole bat as well.

Bat’a Bat’a Swang

This weekend was unusually cold and rainy in Santa Barbara. But hey, I’m not complaining because Montecito is safe and we need the agua! Although I sure do miss going to the beach, I thought I would taking this unfamiliar weather to it’s advantage was the best way to go. My friend Gisella and I decided to go on a little nature walk which into more of a huge hike, but oh well the view was worth it. It’s all about the climb 😉

The next day it was luckily a lot warmer. A lot of kids and I decided to get lunch at Shoreline. I hadn’t been there in so long and it definitely brought back some good old childhood memories! I know I couldn’t go wrong with their famous, classic fish tacos. Eating them I forgot just how good they actually were.

After curving our hungry appetites we thought it would be a fun idea to go to the batting cages. I always drive past East Beach batting cages but never actually have had the opportunity of going so I was excited. When we got there it was a super cool atmosphere and right by the cages was East Beach Tacos. And let me tell you, these tacos looked almost better than the ones I just had. I knew whether or not I would have fun at the cages, that I would definitely be back for the food.

Well, lucky for me turns out I will be returning for not only the tacos, but the batting as well. It was surprisingly super cheap too! for 20 hits it was only $2.75. We started out in the 45 MPH cage, just to warm up. However, let me tell you, the acceleration from 45 to 80 is all too much. We were a little unprepared to say the least. Caden ended up literally breaking a bat in half. We were all pretty confused as to how it happened, but he was sure it was because of how strong he is obviously. We were pretty worried about what the guy would say when he returned half of the bat, but he ended up actually giving Caden an extra token and happily a new, whole bat as well.

Gondolas and Gelato

I know my blog posts are usually centered around the normality of inspiration of what teens can do on the weekend, but I thought this week it would be fun to share with you one of my favorites places I’ve ever been to. However this might not be something an average teenager could do, I hope this post gives you inspiration of wanting to travel here someday!

After an almost 14 hour flight, we finally arrived in San Marco Venice, Italy. When my parents asked my sisters and I where we wanted to go for vacation this summer I instantly cheered for Italy. My sisters both said they had to be home all summer to keep up with the city college classes they signed up for. I was pretty bummed, of course I was ecstatic to go to Venice, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be just my parents and I. So when they said I could bring a friend I was nearly bouncing off the walls in excitement. This was the view from our apartment, not too shabby of a view to wake up to.

The first day we walked everywhere around San Marco. And when I say everywhere, I mean it. It was all so breathtaking. The architecture, the people, the water!! This is of Gisella and I on the bridge of the Grand Canal.

The next day, we took a boat ride to another island of Venice. Burano, Murano is hands down the cutest little town I’ve ever seen. It was so colorful and it felt like I was in a town built for midgets because everything was so quaint.

The gelato was enough for me to fall in love with this place besides the other obvious reasons. My go-to flavor was coffee. Not even lying when I say I probably had 3 cones a day.

From the sunsets, gondola rides, food, buildings, and friendly Italians, I could say this place is European paradise. It was also super cool because while my parents friend and I were looking at museums we looked at a college there. Who knows, maybe next time I go back I’ll be living there? 🙂