Buh Bye California

So here are the photos of our last moments in California and a couple from our drive back home. I don’t know about you but I love road-trips, especially with my sweetheart. There’s just something about being confined to a small space, i.e. a car, for hours on end with someone you love while contemplating beautiful passing sceneries. I think I’ve probably had some of the best conversations of my life under those circumstances. As a bonus on this occasion, we got to witness a couple beautiful sunsets, both on our way there and on our way back; we even stopped on the side of the road to truly enjoy them.

We spent our last few hours in LA driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, enjoying the views of the ocean in Santa Monica and Malibu. We had our last Californian meal at the popular Gladstones restaurant in Malibu, where we again were blessed with wonderful food. I am a seafood junkie (I’m talking I could have all kinds of seafood in any presentation 24/7 and live happily ever after) so this place was heaven to me. In my book it just doesn’t get any better than having lick-your-fingers-it’s-so-good seafood on a beautiful terrace by the ocean.

Then we went back to Santa Monica Pier to enjoy the view of  its iconic ferris wheel and roller coaster sitting atop of it, and that was it, a few moments there, some snapshots, and pretty soon we were on our way back home.

All in all it was just a perfect little vacation, one of my favorite trips ever for sure (although that list just keeps getting longer and longer!). I hope you enjoy the pics, and let me know if you have any favorite spots in the LA area as I am definitely planning to go back as soon as I get a chance.

Hollywood

Today’s post is the diary of my (and my hubby’s) third day in LA, which we spent doing a lot of driving around and sightseeing in some of the classic landmarks of the city. We also had some amazing food that day, which just made our day that much better. I haven’t shared much on the blog about my foodie obsessions, but if you follow me on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, you know by now that if there’s something I love as much as fashion (and possibly even more!) is food!
We started our day with a delicious brunch at Le Pain Quotidien, which I had been wanting to try every time I’ve been to NY and just never got around to it. I didn’t even realize they also had locations in LA, but we just happened to drive by one in West Hollywood, and I just about caused my husband to crash the car by loudly surprising him with a “Oh my gosh, STOP! We have to eat there!”. And boy, let me tell ya, it was worth the conmotion and crazy U-turn. Amazing, fresh, healthy food and perfect bread and pastries. I also love their concept of the communal table. All in all, just a lovely place and concept.
Then, we moved on to what I decided to call my little exercise of visualization: a stroll down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Being the quintessential place for luxury shopping, I can’t actually afford to buy much in most of the stores there (we’re talking Gucci, Chanel, Tom Ford, among others, so definitely not your average shopping destination), but it’s still nice to walk down the street while reminiscing about one of my favorite scenes from Pretty Woman, and of course daydreaming about someday walking out of the stores with any amount of my favorite designer goodies.
Now, once we were done visualizing and daydreaming, I was set on finding the perfect spot to snap some shots of the Hollywood sign, which I had actually never seen in any of my past trips to Lala-land. Such goal took us on a little adventure of getting lost driving thru the Hollywood hills (not entirely lost thanks to the wonder of Google maps and smartphones but you get the idea). It was such a nice drive, and we did find a couple perfect spots to enjoy the view of both the sign and the city. We also found the cutest little market and coffee shop, and had some lovely afternoon tea and scones, nestled in the hills.
We then drove to get a quick look at the walk of fame and the Chinese Theater (places I had visited before so didn’t necessarily want to spend too much time there). Some more driving around Sunset Boulevard, Melrose Avenue, and off to dinner we went.
The chosen place was Pizzeria Mozza by (former Iron Chef) Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton (founder of La Brea Bakery). Of course, we knew we couldn’t go wrong with a creation of such culinary masters, and Pizzeria Mozza didn’t disappoint. We tried the fried squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta and they were something not to be missed if you’re ever in the area; then we decided on a classic margherita pizza so we could enjoy the deliciousness and difference that simple quality ingredients can make. The whole meal was sheer perfection. However we skipped the opportunity to enjoy one of their desserts in exchange for finding some other lovely place to know and enjoy it at.
We drove back to Beverly Hills and had some gourmet-sy flourless chocolate cake with chocolate mousse from Bouchon Bakery, which frankly was a bit too rich for my palate, but it was worth it just to sit and enjoy it by the beautiful Beverly Hills Canon Garden. Just the perfect ending to a perfect day.

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Happy Children’s Day!!

For those of you who don’t know, today is Children’s Day in Mexico, so happy children’s day to all! I know it’s not a holiday celebrated in the U.S. (not sure about the rest of the world), but it is definitely a holiday in Mexico and celebrated as much as Mother’s Day.
Since I still owe you some pictures from my trip to California, it seems apropos to share with you today the ones from my day at Disneyland. As I probably mentioned before, the main purpose of the trip was to celebrate my birthday…ahem…my 29th birthday.
Despite being aware that I am still very young and the fact that I had never before been bothered at the thought of getting older (empashis on the er!), I have recently found myself freaking out a bit at the idea of turning 30. It’s not so much the acute realization of the inevitable aging process that has been causing my anxiety, although I must confess that witnessing the birth of a slight wrinkle under my eyes has gotten to me more than I ever thought it would back when wrinkles were exactly just a thought and not the imminent fact they now are, but the idea of running out of time to keep postponing some of life’s most important decisions, i.e. whether or not to have kids, is what has me twisted. I am also not entirely thrilled to be turning 30 with so many questions about what I really want to do with my life still unanswered, but I suspect 30 is not gonna sit around and wait for me to figure it out and it’s just going to come slap me in the face in exactly 340 days. I also suspect that if 29 years haven’t been enough time for me to figure it out, it is unlikely that less than a year will do the trick, thus I’ll probably be carrying my 20s motto way into my 30s: go with the flow.
Anyway, I apologize for raving about the latest trigger of my everlasting existential crisis. This post was originally meant to be just about sharing the photos of one of my happiest birthdays, which I spent in Disneyland indulging my Peter Pan syndrome. I would highly recommend you try it some time. Without further ado, here are the pictures:

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