Oh hi, Ojai

On October 1st, Derek and I celebrated our second year of dating each other. Being the gigantic sweetheart that he is, he of course had something amazing up his sleeves. He planned a surprise weekend getaway to Ojai, CA.

We left late Friday night and traveled by night, like western bandits fleeing across the desert. Alas, we arrived at the surprise location. Just off the "main road" in Ojai was our home for the weekend, The Ojai Rancho Inn.

The Ojai Rancho Inn

Imagine Sunset Magazine Marketing and Instagram had a baby. The offspring would be this precious roadside hotel. So many simple details that made it beautiful and unique. Upon checking in the uber hippie chick offered us incense to cleanse our room. Derek got into the "cleansing" and showed a pyro side to him I have never seen before.

morning coffee bar

this leather chair on our porch

We spend our mornings enjoying coffee from the coffee bar, catching up on the Ojai Vally News, and burning incense (told you he was into the incense).

local newspaper, succulents, and incense

cup o'joe

this handsome and intellectual creature

headboard art

 

of course they had mason jars

is this fireplace for real? get in my apartment!

After enjoying our morning brew, we decided to head into town to grab a bite to eat. We used our favorite mode of transportation, bike (duh). The inn even had cute little white bikes to borrow.

bikes on bikes on bikes

We rode down the street to a fantastic little bakery, Knead. Surrounded by locals and the pet dogs, we enjoyed a lemon riccota tart (basically lemon cheesecake for breakfast).

After breakfast, it was time to work off that little pastery. We headed up into the hills for a mid day hike to a waterfall. The further up we went, the further away it felt from all our problems. It was so peaceful and quiet.

 

Derek is way more of an "explorer" than I am

 

Upon desending from the mountains, it was pool time. Derek has compared my pool lounging to that of a lizard on a rock; verb tense "lizarding". I sure did lizard hard by that pool.

 

 

poolside

 

 

forever summer in California

 

For our anniversary dinner, we hit up local hotspot Azu for some amazing Tapas. We ended the unforgetable day with smores at the firepit by the pool.

 

Sunday started off with a quick check of the fantasy team lineup (goodie), then continued with mimosas and more lizarding by the pool.

 

 

breakfast of champions

 

 

poolside #2

 

It was such an amazing weekend, I was sad to come back to reality. I couldn't think of anyone else I would have rather spent the weekend with, or better yet, the last two years. I love you very much, Derek. Looking forward to many more adventures with you!

The Big Apple

Last Christmas, Derek gave me a plane ticket to New York City for mid-May. The trip was to be two fold, one for Kebra's (Derek's sister) graduation from Yale and two to see Manhattan, which neither Derek or I had been to before. Finally after months of waiting, it was time for the big trip to the big apple! Here are a few pictures of our time back east. 

The pre-planning process. If you know me, you can understand how much fun I had putting this together. 

We have arrived! 

Excited that we made it! Out and about. 

While getting lost in Greenwich Village, we stubbled upon a "Cheese Bar". Set up just like a sushi bar, with a specific person cutting the cheese (no pun intended).

 Strolled down Wall Street

Empire State Building 

Zero visibility at the top of the Empire State Building, due to the rainy spring day, but that didn't stop us. We hung out in a cloud!

More Empire State Building, beautiful. 

Walked down the High Line for a bit, very cool.

 More High Line, over looking the Meat Packing District

 9/11 Memorial, a very moving experience.  

Concrete Jungle

America

 Grand Central Station. Gorgeous. 

 Blocks and blocks of skyscrapers.

Derek loves 4 hour graduations.

Stoops.

This happened.

The Bull on Wall Street.

Rockefeller Center.

 NBC Studios.

 Radio City.

Hot Dog on the streets on NYC.

Congrats Class of 2013! Way to go Kebra!

Balls of Steel.

Manhattan Bridge.

Gelato... Yummy! And seductive. 

Home sweet home.

Virgin America

I recently took a trip to visit my bestest best friend, Liz. I have begun to consider myself a frequent flyer with having taken over a hand full of plane trips during the 2010 year. Being a new condesure of traveling by air, I decided to try out Virgin Airlines. Ok, that is a lie. It was the cheapest flight to Los Angeles, but I was thrilled to book this flight and experience the unique trip.

And that it was, unique.

The check in station at the airport had somewhat of a retro hip coffee shop vibe to it, with indie music playing and friendly hipster attendant with black frame glasses asking if I need help with anything.

Once through the dreaded TSA inspection and at Gate A6, I found the red glamour of Virgin America to be warm and welcoming, but also had a status of elite value. They offered to check my carry on luggage for free, I in turn offered to be their best friend. The time came to board the big bird, or as it turned out to be, get into “the club”. The red velvet ropes and purple-blue track lights lead me to 8F where I rocked out (in my head) to the bumpin tunes that was playing on the overhead. I half way expected to be sitting next to Will.I.Am, but in turn shared the row with a 4 year, also named Aaron. Bet he still appreciates the Black Eyed Peas.

Each seat had a screen in the back of it with interactive activities you can participate in during the flight. I particularly loved the Google Maps, where I could watch the plane travel across Washington, Oregon, and down south through California. If not choosing to watch T.V, recent blockbusters, or even shop online, and instead watch a map for almost two hours is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

A few other fun features I loved about this flight include, outlets below each seat to plus in devices, ordering drinks from the screen on your seat, the (surprisingly) entertaining safety video at the start, and the fact that I didn’t hate my life on this flight.

If I had it my way, I would fly Virgin American every time I travel. We would be inseparable. We would be like Sonnie and Cher, Erin and VA, as I would endearingly nickname my newest BFF. Unfortunately, with the exception of this trip, I have “wallet restrictions”. Some day, we will be able to fly off into the sunset together. Someday.

BFF to SEA

This last weekend by best friend Liz came to visit me in Seattle! I had been looking forward to her trip ever since Christmas time. It was her first time to Seattle, and my first time getting to show someone around my new city. So I made a list of everything "Seattle" that I could think of and we had a busy, fun filled weekend plucking away at that list.

Friday: Picked up Lizard at the airport, had crab pot for dinner, went to the Kerry Park lookout of Seattle (super romantic, haha), VIP entrance into Lucky Strike, greeted by promoter with free drinks, Jason from the Bachelor spotting, creeped on said bachelor, late night pita pit.

Saturday: Coffee and crepes, shopping downtown, rooftop BBQ overlooking the Puget Sound, quick trip to Kirkland, Belltown dancing, lap dance from a birthday girl, Jersey Shore wanna be spottings, after party in a penthouse, and ripped off by a cab driver.

Sunday: Pizza in West Seattle, Alki beach stroll, cute baby/dog spottings, Starbucks, Pike's Place Market, ice cream, Madison Park drive, Thai food, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and some best friend pillow talk.

Monday: Blueberry (blubs) pancakes, then sad goodbyes. Hate to see her go. I wish we lived closer to each other. Hopefully we will see each other again soon!