Father Daughter Road Trip

Wednesday was my last day in San Francisco for the summer.

I was sad to leave CL but excited to go home and see my family and friends and start school. 

My Dad flew up to SF from LA to meet me and we both drove back to Whittier, CA. 

We got a later start than hoped for-took me forever to get gas and my Dad's plane took a while to find an open gate. 

Surprisingly we both arrived at the same time! 

We talked for hours which I always enjoy. 

We stopped at Harris Ranch on the way back-so good! If you ever take the I-5 passing Colinga stop at Harris Ranch and eat there.

 From experience, they also have the nicest bathrooms on the I-5. 

Harris Ranch

We made it home around 5:30pm. 

Little did I know that my best friend Terri was waiting for me to get home so she could come over and visit!

 It was great seeing her. 

We talked forever about our summers and what we have coming up.

 It was super sweet of her to drop by and have dinner with us. 

Stinson Beach, California

As my time in Northern California is coming to an end, coupled with me having to go back to school to finish my my last year of my Master's, and CL starting Law school, I decided that we both were in need of a mini vacation.  

I wanted some sun and CL wanted to relax so this place sounded great for both of us. 

Stinson Beach is only about 45 min away once we got past the Golden Gate Bridge. 

I had no clue that the road to there was very windy, but it was so gorgeous. 

With the mountains and the beach so close together it made for a great scenery.  

Once we got there we parked and walked around a little. 

We stopped at Stinson Beach Breakers Cafe. 

We decided to do a little reading and let the sun come out before we went on the beach.  

I had Hibiscus Iced Tea-yummy! I also picked up a new book too.

Once we got to the beach we were there for almost two hours just soaking up the sun and occasionally trying to go into the water.

I still cannot get used to how cold the water is. 

Being from Southern California the water is a good 10 degrees warmer so the water at Stinson Beach was ice cold. 

CL tried to get me in the water.

  He managed to kick wet sand all over me, so eventually I had to go in and wash the sand off.

Bolinas Bay

The view of Stinson Beach with my back towards the ocean

CL and I also picked up horrid sun burns! 

We put plenty of sun screen on but I didn't apply as often as I should have and CL completely missed a few spots on his legs.

No bueno :(

All in all we had a great time.

We ate some good food, relaxed, enjoyed the sun, explore a new area, and got to spend some quality time together before school starts. 

 

Do you have any great spots for day trips where your from?

I would love to hear from you!

Bath Time

When I think of a pet the first thing that comes to my mind is a dog or a cat. 

CL and I would love to get a dog but the timing isn't right with me living 7 hours away and both of us in school. 

We still wanted something and oddly enough we came across this lady selling Hermit Crabs in the mall.

The first time we saw her we kinda laughed about the fact that you can have a hermit crab for a pet.  As time went on we thought about it more and more. 

We ended up getting two crabs, Stella and Kritter. 

Later we bought two more Aztec and Maya. 

Maya sadly passed away after only having her for a few months.  

We have had the first two for about a year and a half now and we gave them a salt water bath and i took some pics. The little guy (Aztec) was molting so we let him be.

Sella in her shell during her salt water bath

A close up of Stella

Kritter getting his bath

He is HUGE!

All done! Happy Crab

North Beach, San Francisco

Saint Peter and Paul Church

After my conference I needed some down time and I enjoyed that so much. 

Sleeping in till 9am was just the trick to get me back into things.

  On Tuesday morning I had a craving for some good Italian food so I asked CL if he wanted to go to North Beach for the day. 

We walked around for awhile looking for food but we really ended up window shopping. 

CL spotted this map store which has maps from all over the world and we went inside to take a look. 

It was one of the stores that were by appointment only but the owner let us in :)

CL loves maps! 

He came across this map that was a section of England and it had different coat of arms in the corners representing which houses lived in that region.

I asked CL if he looked for his families coat of arms and said, "No, they weren't famous or anything". 

Right then he found his families coat of arms on the map! 

It was pretty cool to see that.

CL was thrilled and started asking the dealer about he map. 

CL wanted to buy his parent the map as a git but when we found out how much it was, we knew it was out of the question. $$$$. 

We entered a few more stores looking at rugs, clothes, jewelry, ect.  

We finally ate and walked around some more then decided to head back home.

It was a nice sunny day and we even got some great deserts to take home too!

Once we got back home I remembered we had plans to go see a movie later on. 

We rested for for a few minutes then it was back out we went! 

We actually ended up seeing two movies: Capetian America, and Cowboys vs. Aliens. 

I wonder who waned to see those, CL or I? lol. 

They both were good but my favorite was Captain America. 

I was BEAT! So tired.

After a stressful week, it was good getting out and exploring another district San Francisco has to offer. 

Especially spending time with CL before he starts Law School and I go back home to Southern California to finish school. 

It's the little moments of time I get to spend with him that count the most :)

Not For Sale Academy

Recently I have been crazy busy. I know, just like everyone else, right?!

Last week I was at a conference Mon-Fri for combating human trafficking/modern day slavery.

It was eye-opening, exhausting, draining both emotionally and iintellectually.  

With that being said it was probably one of the best experiences I have had and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! 

 There is little research and data when it comes to human trafficking.

It is my goal to do a international mission trip to help end modern day slavery.  Yes human trafficking happens all around-even in our own backyards.

Since I am getting my Master's in International Studies, it would be who of me to continue with international work. 

No one knows what I will be doing after I graduate, or where I am going, but I have so many things I want to accomplish before I "settle down" if you will. 

I want to go to Costa Rica and do my internship/language program that was put on hold when I broke my foot. 

I want to go to Africa and Thailand and do a mission trip for combating human trafficking.

The conference I attended was through a non-profit called Not For Sale. 

They have a lot of great platforms like Free2Work. Free2Work essentially shows the cooperate social responsibility, labor standards, corporate practices and forced labor practices a company has.  

Not For Sale  mission is to end modern day slavery. 

There are working all across the globe to eradicate human trafficking.
There have projects all across the US with additional projects in

Uganda

South Africa

Peru

Thailand

Cambodia

Romania

and more!

They even have a fair trade store too! I urge you to check them out!

Hand Painted State Giveaway!

After browsing a few blogs, I noticed a friend was promoting a giveaway from her friends blog. Don't we all LOVE free giveaways?! This particular one struck me...and I want it bad!

Here is the link to Cookie Cutter Home a great DIY blog that has lot of simple ways to update your home. This is also the blog that is giving away a hand painted state!


It's so adorable :) Who doesn't want to show pride for their state RIGHT? I am a PROUD Californian! Born and raised baby :)

The Unexpected

First and foremost I want to apologize for being utterly absent for oh let's say a year or so :(

So much has happened but the past is the past so I am going to start from earlier this month :)

My first year of grad school is officially over and thank goodness because it was getting to me...and bad! As apart of my graduate program I am required to have an international internship. This is what drew me to the program, I love HAVING to travel internationally :) My destination was beautiful Costa Rica! For a total of nine weeks I had planned to spend three weeks in Herida, Monteverde and Flamingo Beach.

Herida

Monteverde

Flamingo

I had what I thought was an amazing trip ahead of me.

My trip of a lifetime I thought.

Oh boy was I wrong! On Friday May 27th, I was walking room my bathroom to my bedroom in high heels showing CL what cute shoes they were and all I could say was I can't wait till we go out to dinner so I could wear them-I fell and I mean BARREL ROLL down the hallway.

Not my most glamorous moment whatsoever.

I ended up breaking three bones, my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Metatarsal.

So Costa Rica is a no go :( I was shocked and pissed off at myself for doing this and not being able to go on my internship.

Not to mention my parents were away on vacation and CL had to take care of my every need. He did an amazing job and made me fall in love all over again.

I am truly amazed at how attentive he was. I like to think it brought us closer together <3

What am I doing since i'm not in Costa Rica?

Well good thing you asked!

I am working when I can for extra cash,

learning Spanish from Rosetta Stone,

trying to clean out my my entire room,

and I am a research assistant for a professor at Chapman University.

If I get the go ahead from the doctor I will be going to San Francisco for a few weeks to work

and spend some much needed time before I go back to school,

CL starts law school and after the fiasco!

That is pretty much my update and from here on out I plan to write at least once a week. A goal I want to accomplish.