San Diego Area
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
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| Greetings from San Diego Wall |
Oh San Diego! I absolutely fell in love with this charming city! I think San Diego was the perfect introduction to California - great weather, nice people, good food, and beautiful beaches. When my sister invited me to tag along on her trip I couldn't say no! Our cousin is stationed out there and we were lucky to have his amazing wife be our tour guide! Here are a bunch of snapshots from our trip!
Point Loma
We started off our trip with a visit to Point Loma. Immediately I was enamored with the incredible views of the city on one side and the vast ocean on the other.
My favorite part was the cliffs. There were spots we walked/climbed down to where it felt like we were at the edge of the world. It was so nice to sit there and enjoy the sound of the crashing waves.
While the temperatures weren't high, the walk/climb down made it feel extra hot. I ended up having to ditch my maxi dress for an airy romper.
Coronado Island
I LOVED Coronado. We went to Hotel Del Coronado our first day of the trip and I loved the hotel and beach so much that we ended up visiting Coronado three times during our stay.
The Del as Hotel del Coronado is affectionately called was so pretty! I loved learning about the historical hotel and walking around the grounds.
My favorite sunset of the entire trip was spent on Coronado Beach. The beach wasn't crowded, the sand was clean, and the view of The Del at twilight was incredible.
Thankfully I thought to pack my DSLR and tripod and was able to use it for this twilight shot of The Del. So magical!
Sunset Cliffs
I feel that if I lived in San Diego I would make my way to a different beach every single night to enjoy the sunset. I honestly just love relaxing while listening to the waves crash and watching the sky burst into lovely colors.
La Jolla
When my sister told me that we were looking for a secret swing hidden somewhere in the hills of La Jolla I thought that we were in for a wild goose chase. She found some instructions online of where to park and what trail to follow but they turned out to be pretty vague. We trekked on nonetheless and while I was ready to give up my sister did not. Good thing she didn't give up! We enjoyed being kids again while swinging and enjoying the view.
After some time at the swings and a quick outfit change - we walked around and explored the shops in La Jolla, watched the sea lions play in the cove, and enjoyed Sea Shell Beach.
Balboa Park
It felt like there was so much to see at Balboa Park! We only had about an hour to explore so we tried to see as much as we could, but this is somewhere I would definitely go back to and take my time at. Between the park, museums, and artist village I could easily spend a couple of days just at Balboa Park.
Oceanside Beach
Oceanside Beach was my least favorite place. While the water seemed to be perfect for surfers, the beach was more rocks than it was sand - at least in the area we were in! It was nice to walk the pier and see the Top Gun house though!
Mediation Garden
The Meditation Garden near Encinitas was lovely! There were a few different sections open with different floral and koi fish. You have to be quite while in the garden which made the area super peaceful. I could have spent the day sitting on one of the shady benches overlooking the ocean and reading a book.
I miss San Diego already! Can't wait to go back!
Goal Check In: July 2018
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
DAILY
- Drink eight glasses of water a day
- Journal everyday
- Keeping up with both of these daily goals.
WEEKLY
- Workout four days a week
- Worked out six days a week this month!
- Cook a new meal once a week
- Been cooking a lot but haven't tried any new dishes.
- Work from a coffee shop one day a week
- Haven't made it out yet!
- No TV or Social Media one day a week
- Still failing at this. It's harder than you'd think it would be to disconnect for an entire day.
MONTHLY
- Read two books a month
- Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes
- Try a new restaurant
- Houston
- Hughie's Tavern & Grille: We met up with friends for dinner at this casual spot. The meat in the fried rice had a flavor I wasn't used to so it wasn't my favorite.
- Bosscat Kitchen & Libations: Honestly, this place is way too hyped for what it is. We went for Sunday brunch and it felt like a club - the music was way too loud. Everyone felt that the food was just ok, nothing was great. We did have a great waiter who made the experience worth while.
- Calle Onze: I met up with my friend for happy hour and was not disappointed. We each had a delicious mojito and shared a couple of appetizers. The queso flameado was my favorite! I chose the enchiladas verdes for dinner and while they were delicious the sides were just ok. To finish off our meal we had the churros filled with chocolate, yum!
- Plan a girls night
- Didn't get to have a girls night this month.
- Send birthday cards
- Got the cards out this month!
THIS YEAR
- Run a 10k - Completed on February 24, 2018
- Finished my first timed 10k in 59:15.6 mins!
- Run a half marathon
- Finally ran my first half marathon on July 15! I completed 13.2 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes!
- Complete a Whole30 - Completed April 13, 2018
- We started Whole30 on March 5, 2018 and finished reintroduction on April 13, 2018. You can see my Whole30 review here.
- Plan our 30th birthday party
- Been saving a bunch of ideas to my pinterest board so that's a start!
Goal Check In: June 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
DAILY
- Drink eight glasses of water a day
- Journal everyday
- Keeping up with both of these daily goals.
WEEKLY
- Workout four days a week
- The only week I missed this goal was when we were in Las Vegas.
- Cook a new meal once a week
- Still not doing good with this! I tried two new dishes this month and one was a salad so it wasn't really cooking.
- Work from a coffee shop one day a week
- Haven't made it out yet!
- No TV or Social Media one day a week
- Still failing at this. It's harder than you'd think it would be to disconnect for an entire day.
MONTHLY
- Read two books a month
- Try a new restaurant
- Houston
- North Italia: Took my dad out for a birthday dinner here and the food was good. It is a very lively spot and it was quite loud in the restaurant. I had the prosciutto pizza and it was ok.
- The Original Ninfa's on Navigation: We had dinner here before an Astros game since it is close to the stadium and while the food and drinks were good I couldn't really enjoy it because they sat us in a room where the AC was broken. Honestly they should have closed that section since it was so hot that we were all sweating.
- Steak48: Steven and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary with an amazing dinner at Steak48. From the moment we walked in to the moment we left we felt so pampered. Everything we tried was delicious and the service was beyond excellent! Honestly I don't think you could go wrong with anything on their menu. We had the crispy shrimp as an appetizer and each had a steak as our main dish. I had the filet mignon "Oscar Style" with a crab cake on top - so so good! We also shared fries, mac and cheese, and had the brioche chocolate chip bread pudding for dessert. Clearly we left dinner very happy and very full!
- Samurai Noodle: I'd driven by this place countless times and never noticed it. Our friends moved closer to our neighborhood and suggested it for dinner one night. I had the Spicy Miso Shoyu - so good!
- Steel City Pops: Summer calls for lots and lots of cold treats and Steel City Pops is the perfect spot for one! I had their Pop of the Month which was Coconut Key Lime Pie. Wow! The popsicle had graham cracker in it which I wasn't expecting and it was delicious!
- Rainbow Lodge: Technically I've been to this restaurant but it was four years ago so I feel like it is new to me. We celebrated father's day here with my in laws and we all had a great time and enjoyed our meals. I had the Lobster and Herb Risotto.
- Rita's Italian Ice: My friend and I each had their flight so we could sample a couple of different flavors and we loved all of them except the cherry one since it reminded us of medicine. My favorite ice and gelato flavor was mango!
- Sarah Place: China Town is somewhere I would like to explore more. For girls night we had dinner at Sarah Place. We ordered dumplings, fried rice, and a chicken dish and shared it family style. While everything was good nothing was spectacular. Really it was just typical take out style food. My all time favorite China Town restaurant is still Mala Sichuan Bistro.
- Aqua S: After dinner in China Town the girls and I went to Aqua S for dessert. not only is the shop cute and insta worthy, the soft serve is also delicious! I had one of their seasonal flavors, the blueberry milkshake soft serve, so good! I definetly want to go back and try new flavors.
- Surya: My friend was in town and was craving Indian food. Our go to place closed down a couple of years ago and we have yet to try out some new spots. We decided to try out Surya and were left disappointed. To start off, who doesn't have high chairs in their restaurants? How are parents with babies supposed to sit down and have a meal? Luckily my friends baby was pretty good at sitting on the bench with us but still it seemed like a high chair should have been available. As for the food - the best thing I had was the garlic naan bread. Our chicken tikka masala was lacking flavor. Not going back to this place.
- Las Vegas
- Eggslut: There was a lot of hype about this place but honestly I found it to be flavor less. I had the Fairfax and it was blah. I am glad I went after the lunch rush because I would have been very disappointed if I'd waited for food here.
- Beauty & Essex: I'd been meaning to go to the location in NYC but never made it out there. I am so glad I got to try the Las Vegas location. This was my favorite meal and restaurant of our Las Vegas trip. I loved the speakeasy feel to the restaurant. We had the Thai Style Deep Fried Shrimp, Crispy Onion Rings, Mexican Street Corn Ravioli, and the Tomahawk Ribeye. Everything was delicious!
- Lotus of Siam: This restaurant was recommend to us by one of Steven's coworkers and rightfully so! I don't remember exactly everything we ordered because the menu was very extensive but I do remember that the pad thai was good and the green chili fried rice was super spicy. I love spicy food but the spice level was beyond what I could handle.
- Hash Hash A Go Go: This place was so good I went twice! To be fair the first time I went on my own while Steven was working so I had to go back so he could try it to. The portion sizes here could feed multiple people - it was insane! I tried Andy's Sage Fried Chicken and the Lemon Blueberry Pancake.
- The Dapper Doughnut: This counter in the Underground of the MGM Grand served up fresh made to order mini donuts and they were delicious! Honestly the mini size provides a good dough to topping ratio. I loved all the flavors I tried but the lemon blueberry was my favorite!
- Pink Box Doughnuts: I stopped in for a snack and had the donut that was flavored like Samoas - yum!
- Pieology Pizza: We needed a quick dinner before heading out for a show so we grabbed a made to order pizza at the MGM Grand location. Pretty good pizza but nothing special.
- Gordon Ramseys Hells Kitchen: I had high hopes for this place and while everything was good nothing was great. My burger was fine and Steven's pizza was ok. My cocktail sounded like it would be good but really was just mediocre. It was over priced for what it was.
- Sake Rok: We stopped in for dinner one night and while it was pretty entertaining to have the wait staff dance around the food was just ok. Steven liked his steak but my sushi wasn't great. Over all I would skip this place.
- San Antonio
- Dough Pizzeria Napoletana: We had dinner here for my friends birthday. They had been before and recommended the Fior Di Latte Burrata - OMG so good! I would eat that every day if I could! Steven and I also shared a Margherita Pizza with Pepperoni.
- Jugo Juicery: I'm not going to lie, I went to this place because I saw a cute photo on Instagram. Well it turns out I went to the wrong location because the cute photo was taken at the downtown location not the location I went to, oh well! I had a Acai bowl and it was delicious!
- Plan a girls night
- The girls and I went out for dinner, dessert, and drinks around Houston!
- Send birthday cards
- Got the cards out this month!
THIS YEAR
- Run a 10k - Completed on February 24, 2018
- Finished my first timed 10k in 59:15.6 mins!
- Run a half marathon
- I am working my way up to a half marathon. I am currently working my way through a 15k to half marathon program! I signed up for the Houston Marathon in January of 2019 so I am training slowly but surely!
- Complete a Whole30 - Completed April 13, 2018
- We started Whole30 on March 5, 2018 and finished reintroduction on April 13, 2018. You can see my Whole30 review here.
- Plan our 30th birthday party
- Haven't made any new progress on this.
Las Vegas Travel Diary June 2018
Thursday, June 28, 2018
We had lunch at Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen where we had the Lobster Risotto, Hell’s Kitchen Burger, and Margherita Pizza. I’ve never watched the show but Steven has so it was neat to see the red team and blue team kitchens.
I loved checking out all the different hotels! One of my favorites was the lobby at the Wynn - they have such a pretty and colorful floral carousel!
We had dinner off the strip one night at Lotus of Siam. We had a few different dishes and they were all tasty. Steven and I are both fans of spicy food so we ordered our Green Chili Fried Rice at a spice level of 7 and oh man was it spicy!
We got to explore Fremont Street which had been recommend to us by our friends. The street is lined with bars, restaurants, and casinos. The area we walked through was covered with a giant screen where they would play a different musical show every hour. Because everything is closer on Fremont Street it felt more interactive than The Strip did.
Vegas was so hot! While I'm used to hot temps living in Houston, Vegas is a different kind of hot. As soon as the sunlight would touch my skin it felt like it was burning me. I was so happy to escape the heat by lounging around in the pool at the MGM Grand.
In the MGM Grand Underground there is a donut shop called The Dapper Doughnut. They make fresh mini donuts with different flavor combinations. All the flavors were delicious but I loved the blueberry lemon ones the most!
The Strip is way better at night. I loved not having to worry about getting sun burned and loved seeing the casinos all lit up. While Las Vegas isn't my favorite city, I am glad we got to visit and explore it!
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