Happy 2018 friends! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season. Between traveling to Florida for my father-in-law's wedding, then flying up to the northeast for Christmas with family, then heading home to the west coast for New Year's, I had an awesome, whirlwind Christmastime. More on that later, but today we are rewinding a bit to recap another part of my recent trip to Spain: learning about the local gastronomy in the southern city of Malaga via a cooking class with Spain Food Sherpas. For awhile, I had participating in an international cooking class on my bucket list, so the day that I took a tapas cooking class with Spain Food Sherpas was a special one. I was extra excited because I adore tapas, and I woke up that morning looking forward to learning more about Spanish food ... [Read More]
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The Ultimate Malaga History & Food Experience {Spain Travel Review}
Hi friends! Today I'm back with my second recap from my vacation last month. After getting a taste of Stockholm, my husband and I flew to Malaga, Spain, where we'd stay for a week and get to experience Southern Spanish culture. My first full day of vacation in Malaga, I wanted to explore the city and get a lay of the land. We started the day by taking the train in from where we were staying a bit south in Mijas Costas, then we sat down at a cafe outside for some tea and croissants. As we sat, sipped, and noshed, we did a lot of people watching. My first lesson of the culture in Malaga came from seeing the older man at the table next to us pour olive oil on his toast with a very heavy hand. People here love their olive oil (and of course their strong coffee too - this is Europe after ... [Read More]
Exploring Stockholm for a Day
“The world is a book, and those who don’t travel only read a page.” A couple days ago I got home from a long vacation in Europe with my husband, and I have so much to share with you! This vacation was the kind of travel that’s tiring and adventurous - a trip that as usual, made my pangs of wanderlust stronger, particularly as I sat in my thoughts during a long 11-hour flight from London to LA. We covered 4 cities in 3 new countries on this trip, the first of which was Stockholm. A stop in Sweden was an add-on to our plans to see Spain. Once I started looking at flights and saw that there was a long layover available in Stockholm, I was intrigued. It wasn’t even a much cheaper flight option, but I had never been to any of the Nordic countries and have wanted to see Stockholm, so ... [Read More]
Hike to Eagle Rock via the PCT + 8th Anniversary Camping Weekend
A couple of weeks ago, my hubby and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. I feel like so much has happened & we've grown up so much in these years, yet the years sure seem to fly by being married to your best friend! To commemorate the occasion, we went camping for the weekend in the Julian area - a SoCal inland town a couple of hours away that's known for its apple pies. It serves as a countryside escape for San Diego city dwellers, and we usually visit once or twice a year. Our initial plan was to go apple picking, but unfortunately all of the orchards had already closed for the season or were in their last weekend. Plan B was to go wine tasting instead. We visited Volcan Mountain Winery first, which had decent red blends and a muscat that we left with a bottle of. After ... [Read More]
5 Exercise Mantras I Hold While Traveling
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." I've been on the east coast visiting my family in Jersey for over a week. Between fitting in seeing my loved ones, being in the midst of my parents doing a major kitchen renovation (I'm excited to cook & bake in their new, beautiful kitchen the next time I come home!), and still working while I'm here, things have been very busy! Some trip highlights have included spending time down the shore with my parents while the weather has been gorgeous & mild here, and catching up with girlfriends from both college and high school. Oddly enough, when I left San Diego we were having a serious heatwave, and when I got to Jersey, it was unusually cool for the beginning of September. After living in a house that was a sweaty 85 ... [Read More]
SUP Date in Coronado {Facing My Water Fear: Summer ’17 Edition}
Growing up on the Jersey shore, I would spend my summers on the coast, where my family has what we call "bungalows" on the Navesink River. While I often would get the chance to go for rides on boats and try activities like water skiing and tubing, sports on the open water has quite honestly, always made me kind of nervous...and it still does. The ocean is a mystery, and I don't like not being able to see the bottom. Or the countless numbers of jellyfish that make their way into the Jersey waters in August for that matter! I can remember certain instances from years ago when the ocean scared the hell out of me: On vacation in Thailand, a huge wave crashed towards me while I was swimming, and I got swept under for a few seconds longer than I was comfortable with. One time ... [Read More]
